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The Young Wireless Operator- 
With the Oyster Fleet 


BOOKS BT 

LEWIS R THEISS 


IN CAMP AT FORT BRADY. A Camping Story. 
304 pages. 

HIS BIG BROTHER. A Story of the Struggles and 
Triumphs of a Little Son of Liberty. 320 pages. 

LUMBERJACK BOB. A Tale of the Alleghanies. 

320 pages. 

THE WIRELESS PATROL AT CAMP BRADY. A 
Story of How the Boy Campers, Through TTieir 
Knowledge of Wireless, “ Did Their Bit.” 320 pages. 

THE SECRET WIRELESS. A Story of the Camp Brady 
Patrol. 320 pages. 

THE HIDDEN AERIAL. The Spy Line on the Moun- 
tain. 332 pages. 

THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR— AFLOAT. 
How Roy Mercer Won His Spurs in the Merchant 
Marine. 320 pages. 

THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR— AS A FIRE 
PATROL. The Story of a Young Wireless Amateur 
Who Made Good as a Fire Patrol. 352 pages. 

THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR— WITH THE 
OYSTER FLEET. How Alec Cunningham Won 
His Way to the Top in the Oyster Business. 328 pages. 

Cloth Bound — Illustrated by Colored 
Plates and Photographs 



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The Young Wireless Operator — 
With the Oyster Fleet 

HOW ALEC CUNNINGHAM WON HIS 
WA Y TO THE TOP IN THE 
OYSTER BUSINESS 


By 

LEWIS eKtHEISS 


ILLUSTRATED BY 

FRANK T. MERRILL 



W. A. WILDE COMPANY 

CHICAGO BOSTON 




Copyright, ig22. 

By W. a. Wilde Company 

All rights reserved 

The Young Wireless Operator — With the Oyster Fleet 

22 



DEC 27 72 


©CU692565 


Vvp ) 


This book is dedicated 
to the late 

DR. JULIUS NELSON, 

sometime biologist for New Jersey, 
and to 

DR. THURLOW C. NELSON, 

his son and successor, who have done and 
are doing for the oyster industry, what 
Liebig did for agricultural chemistry 



I 


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Foreword 


HE story of America’s wonderful beds of 



A oysters is the same as the story of her match- 
less forests, her remarkable deposits of oil, her 
countless herds of bison, and her innumerable flocks 
of wild pigeons; and that story is completely told 
in one word of five letters — waste. When our 
magnificent Pennsylvania forests were cut, millions 
of feet of lumber were wantonly wasted, left to rot 
on the ground after the bark had been stripped off. 
When that unequaled pool of oil was discovered at 
Spindletop, gushers were allowed to spout for days 
and hours merely to gratify the vanity of purse- 
proud owners, and oil was wasted by the hundred 
thousand barrels. We are paying for such wastes 
to-day in the high price of lumber and oil. And 
our children and our children’s children will go on 
paying the price. 

I live on the banks of one of America’s noblest 
rivers, the Susquehanna. A hundred years ago 
one could throw a line overboard and draw out fish 
without number. Now, one can fish half a day 
without getting a nibble. Some day, perhaps, we 
shall have fish again in the Susquehanna. But it 
will be in the same way that we are gradually re- 
foresting our denuded Pennsylvania mountains — at 


6 


FOEEWOED 


enormous cost, which means perpetually high priced 
lumber. It will be the same with our oysters. The 
enormous beds, which, properly conserved, would 
have supplied the nation with cheap oysters for 
generations, are gone. 

Most of us know less about oyster production 
than we do about lumbering or oil drilling. Yet 
oystering is one of the few truly picturesque occu- 
pations that survive in American life. This book, 
like its immediate predecessor. The Young Wireless 
Operator — As a Fire Patrol, is written in the hope 
that young readers may come to understand the 
real results of such wastes — the permanent imposi- 
tion of unnecessary and burdensome costs for 
necessities of life which should be cheap. 


Contents 


I. 

A Friend in Need .... 


9 

II. 

The Fleet Sets Sail .... 


i8 

III. 

Over the Bar ..... 


28 

IV. 

Dredging Oysters .... 


42 

V. 

Evening at the Oyster Pier 


56 

VI. 

Overboard in the Dark . 


67 

VM. 

A Letter for Alec .... 


78 

VIII. 

Alec’s First Lesson in Oyster-Culture 


89 

IX. 

Under a Cloud 


100 

X. 

Alec’s Decision 


108 

XL 

A Wireless Telephone 


118 

XII. 

Alec Gets a New Job 


133 

XIII. 

An Unlooked-for Friend . 


150 

XIV. 

The Corner-Stone that Alec Found 


161 

XV. 

A New Light 


168 

XVI. 

The Planting Season Begins . 


180 

XVII. 

A Search for Truth 


193 

XVIII. 

A Long Chase 


214 

XIX. 

Home Again 


234 

XX. 

The Osprey's Nest .... 


^47 

XXL 

The Great Secret .... 


264 

XXII. 

The New Captain of the Bertha B . 

7 


272 


8 


CONTENTS 


XXIII. Adrift in the Storm 

XXIV. Misfortunes Never Come Singly 

XXV. The Crisis 

XXVI. Victory 


. 282 

. 298 

. 309 

. 318 


The Young Wireless Operator — 
With the Oyster Fleet 


CHAPTER I 


A FRIEND IN NEED 



'HE oyster-boat Bertha B lay off her pier at 


A Bivalve, the great New Jersey oyster shipping 
centre. On either side of her were other craft of 
the oyster fleet, all packed together like cigars in a 
box, and all held fast to one another by stout 
hawsers, for the tide in the Maurice River was run- 
ning out at a gallop, driven by a high northeast 
wind. Yet an observer could hardly have told 
whether one boat or a dozen lay off the pier, so dark 
was the November morning. Heavy clouds ob- 
scured the sky, hiding star and moon. Not the 
faintest sign of daybreak was yet visible in the east. 
A dense mist, that even in daylight would have 
made things appear uncertain and indistinct, drove 
before the high wind, chilling to the bone every one 
it touched. 

For despite the early hour, the oystermen were 
astir. Lamps glowed in the snug cabins of the 


10 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

oyster-boats. Here and there a lantern bobbed 
mysteriously in the dark. Red and green lights 
were being hoisted in the ships’ riggings, and white 
lights fastened astern of many vessels. Harsh 
voices were heard calling through the night. The 
heavy tramp of boots on wooden decks sounded here 
and there in the darkness. Now and again there 
was a sharp splash as some sailor dropped a bucket 
into the tide for water, or a heavy hawser was cast 
off. On every side was heard the sound of prepara- 
tion; for the fleet was about to sail for the oyster 
grounds. 

Suddenly the door of the Bertha B's cabin 
opened. A great shaft of yellow light shot athwart 
the darkness. Two figures emerged from the cabin. 

“ Hello, Jim,” called one of them. There was 
no answer. After a moment’s pause the speaker 
called again. This time he raised his voice to a 
gi’eat bellow and repeated his cry: “ Hello, Jim! ” 
The second call, magnified by the fog, went roaring 
through the fleet. Still there was no answer. “ He 
ain’t here. Cap,” said the man who had called, to 
the figure by his side. “ Maybe he went ashore to 
get some tobacco.” 

“ Tobacco nothing! ” exclaimed the other angrily. 

The skunk got his breakfast and then snuk ashore. 
I ain’t surprised. He looked like that kind o’ cat- 
tle. Though he did work pretty darned good the 
three weeks we had him! ” 

The speaker. Captain Christopher Bagley, 
paused an instant. Then, “ Scabby trick! ” he ex- 


A FRIElsT) IN NEED 


11 


claimed. “ Leaves us deucedly short handed, and 
he knowed it. Better go ashore, George, and see 
if you can find him. If you can’t, get anybody you 
can pick up. We got to have another hand.” 

The sailor, George Bishop, turned without a word 
and made his way ashore, ducking under ropes and 
rigging, stumbling over chains and dredges, and 
stepping carefully from boat to boat, until at last 
he reache'd the ship at the end of the pier. The tide 
was near ebb, and the sailor had to climb into the 
ship’s rigging in order to get on the pier. 

The huge shed skirting the shore was dimly 
lighted by electric lights; and the illumination from 
these faintly lighted the pier, along which the sailor 
was now making his way. A great pile of burlap 
sacks was heaped up near the centre of the pier, 
and behind these, like a windbreak, stood a long 
row of barrels, piled one above another, and at least 
three tiers deep. But the sailor took no note of 
these things. His glance roved hither and thither 
through the gi’eat shed and on the various piers, 
looking for a familiar form. Half-way across the 
pier, he met a fellow sailor. 

“ Hello, Tom! ” he called. “ Seen anything of 
Jim Hawley? ” 

“ No. Did he give you the slip? ” 

‘‘ That’s what he did. He come aboard and et 
his breakfast and then snuk off. And we was short 
handed at that.” 

“ I ain’t surprised. He was drunk last night.” 

“ Well, he won’t do it again. Captain Bagley 


12 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

won’t stand for that kind of cattle. Don’t know 
where we could get another hand, do you? We’re 
awful short of men.” 

“ No, I don’t. Everybody around here that’s 
willin’ to work was snapped up long ago. I got to 
get aboard. I’m late myself. Good-bye.” 

The sailor hurried on down the pier and swung 
himself aboard the ship at its end. 

Sailor Bishop turned on his heel and started along 
the pier again, to pursue his search for the missing 
deck-hand. But hardly had he taken a step before 
the pile of burlap bags stirred strangely. The top- 
most rose in air and a human figure crawled out 
from under them. 

“ Hello ! ” called this figure after the hurrying 
form of Sailor Bishop. “ Do you want another 
hand? I’m looking for a job.” 

Sailor Bishop turned sharply and stared in aston- 
ishment at the person before him. 

“ Who are you? And where did you come 
from? ” he demanded. 

“ My name’s Alec Cunningham, and I come from 
Central City, in Pennsylvania.” 

“ Ever been oystering? ” 

“ No, sir. I never saw an oyster-boat before.” 

“ Don’t know whether you’ll do or not,” said the 
sailor. “ But come aboard and talk to the captain. 
I’ll be back in a minute. Wait for me here.” 

The sailor hurried away, to continue his quest for 
the missing Hawley. Alec Cunningham returned 
to the pile of burlap sacks and dug out an old, bat- 


A FEIEND IN NEED 


13 


tered valise. Then he carefully piled the burlap 
sacks in order again, and when Sailor Bishop re- 
turned, he was standing near the end of the pier, 
stamping his feet and thrashing his arms about his 
sides, in an evident effort to get warm. 

“ Come on,” said the sailor, and the two climbed 
cautiously from the pier to the ship’s rigging and 
then dropped to her deck. Carefully they made 
their way across boat after boat, until at last they 
reached the Bertha B. Sailor Bishop led the way 
to the cabin and entered, followed by the stranger. 

“ I couldn’t find Jim nowhere. Cap,” explained 
the sailor, “ but I picked up this fellow here. He 
ain’t never ketched oysters, but maybe you could 
use him at that.” 

Captain Bagley stepped forward and looked 
critically at the stranger. He saw before him a tall, 
rangy lad of eighteen years, keen of face, with dark 
hair, strong nose, mouth, and chin, and with intelli- 
gence plainly stamped on his open, honest counte- 
nance. 

“ What’s your name? ” demanded the captain. 

“Alec C-C-C-Cunningham, sir,” replied the lad. 

“ Do you stutter always? ” 

“ N-N-N-No, sir. I don’t stutter at all. I’m 
just a little ch-ch-ch-chilly.” And the lad shivered 
violently. 

“ He was sleeping on the pier in a pile of oyster 
sacks,” said Sailor Bishop in explanation. 

Captain Bagley stepped forward and laid his 
hand on young Cunningham’s wrist. It was like 


14 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOB 

ice. The captain ran a quick, investigating finger 
over the lad’s shoulder. “Hell!” he exclaimed. 
“ The kid ain’t got nothin’ on.” 

He turned to the cook who was just cleaning up 
the breakfast dishes. “ Dick,” he said, “ give this 
boy some grub and a bowl of coffee, and make it 
hot, too.” 

Again he turned to the lad before him. “ Get 
over beside the stove,” he said. “ Why in the deuce 
didn’t you tell a fellow you were freezing to death? 
Sleep out in a pile of oyster sacks I Why didn’t you 
tell a fellow you had no place to sleep? You could 
have had a bunk on the Bertha B.” 

Alec Cunningham tried to exj)ress his gratitude, 
but the right words were hard to find. 

“ I — I — I’m much obliged to you,” he said. “ I 
didn’t get here till late last night and I didn’t know 
anybody, and I didn’t want to disturb strangers. 
But it was cold.” 

“ Didn’t get here till late last night,” repeated 
the captain. “ Where do you come from, and what 
did you come here for, if you don’t know anything 
about oystering and don’t know anybody here? ” 

“ I thought maybe I could find my uncle,” replied 
Alec. 

“ Then you do know somebody here,” said the 
captain sharply, and again he looked searchingly at 
the lad before him. 

“ No, sir, I don’t,” replied Alec. “ You see, sir, 
my father died recently. My mother has been dead 
since I was a little baby. I have no one to live 


A FRIEND IN NEED 


15 


with. So I thought I would look up my uncle. 
My father used to tell me about him, but I never 
saw him. He is an ovsterman here at Bivalve.” 

“ What’s his name?*” 

“ Thomas Robinson, sir. He was my mother’s 
brother.” 

Captain Bagley turned square around. “ Now 
don’t that beat the deuce,” he said to himself. After 
a moment he turned about and faced Alec again. 

“ My lad,” he said in a strangely altered voice, 
“ you just put your things in that bunk. The 
Bertha B is your home as long as you want to stay 
on her and work — that is, it is if you don’t play 
us any scabby tricks like that scoundrel who left 
us in the lurch this morning.” 

“ But you know I don’t know anything about 
the oyster business,” said Alec with hesitation. 

“ Neither does anybody else when he’s born,” 
growled the captain. “We all had to learn. And 
unless I can’t read faces any longer, you can learn 
as good as anybody.” 

“ Then you’ll take me as a hand? ” 

“ You’re engaged already.” 

“ Oh, sir! I don’t know how to thank you. I — 
I — I was awfully in need of work. I haven’t a cent 
left. I don’t know what I would have done if I 
hadn’t found work pretty soon. You won’t be 
sorry you hired me.” 

Aji idea struck the captain. “ When did you eat 
last? ” he demanded suddenly. 

“ Yesterday morning, sir,” replied the lad. 


16 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

‘‘ Dick, you darned good-for-nothing cook,” 
stormed the captain, “what are you standing 
around looking at the kid for? Get busy, or I’ll 
fire you.” 

The cook merely smiled. The captain went 
blustering off to the wheel-house. Alec looked 
puzzled, almost alarmed. In perplexity he turned 
to the cook. 

“ What about my uncle? ” he inquired. “ Won’t 
the captain let me try to find him? What did I do 
to make the captain angry? ” 

“ Lad,” said the cook kindly, “ there ain’t no use 
trying to find your uncle. He went overboard last 
spring, when they was h’isting an anchor on the 
Mary Ford and the anchor purchase parted. We 
never seen him again. He was a buddy of the 
captain’s. If you just behave yourself, you’ve got 
a job with Captain Bagley for life. Now, get busy 
and eat your breakfast, for we’re going to cast off in 
a few minutes.” 

Alec picked up the steaming bowl of coffee that 
the cook had placed before him and was about to 
take a swallow from it when a crashing sound rent 
the air and the Bertha B swayed violently at her 
moorings. The captain stepped from the wheel- 
house and ran out on deck. The sound of angry 
voices arose. A moment later Captain Bagley 
came back. 

“ That old fool, Tom Hardy, has fouled us,” he 
said angrily. “He had too much sail up. But 
he’ll pay for his foolishness. His bowsprit carried 


A FEIEND IN NEED 


17 


away. I don’t know how we’re going to get out of 
here now. The tide’s jammed him fast! Anyway, 
you’ll have plenty of time to eat, lad. So go to it. 
Now mind you fill him up, Dick.” 


CHAPTER II 


THE FLEET SETS SAIL 


OME over here to the table and set down,” 



said the cook, with a kindly smile. So tiny 
was the cabin that one step took Alec to the prof- 
fered stool. Ravenously hungry though he was, his 
surroundings were so new and interesting that for 
a moment he almost forgot to eat, as he looked 
around the cabin. 

Tiny it was, indeed. And yet everything in it 
was so compactly arranged that half a dozen men 
could live in it. In one corner stood a small, square 
stove, now delightfully hot, with its top guarded 
by a slender iron railing, like a miniature fence. 
Alec knew at once that this was to keep the pots 
and pans from sliding off the stove when the ship 
was pitching about. Even the dishes were suggest- 
ive of rough weather; for the cook had given Alec 
his coffee in a big bowl, and the huge plate which 
he was filling up with pork-chops, fried eggs, and 
steaming fried potatoes, was nothing but a great 
soup plate. Beside the stove stood a little cup- 
board, and this, with the stove, practically filled the 
stern end of the cabin. A coal-oil lamp was fastened 
to the wall between stove and cupboard. 


18 


THE FLEET SETS SAIL 


19 


There was just room enough left in this part of 
the cabin for the men to pack themselves around the 
table. The table, however, occupied less space than 
any table Alec had ever heard of, for it was nothing 
but two smooth, unpainted boards, perhaps four 
feet long, and hinged so as to fold together length- 
wise. One end of this table now rested in a frame 
on the port side of the cabin, while the other end was 
slung from the cabin roof by a rope. 

Alec thought he had never tasted anything so 
good as the pork-chops and fried eggs. Before he 
knew it, the cook was filling up his plate again, and 
pouring him a second bowl of coffee. Alec dumped 
some sugar in it and poured out a generous supply 
of condensed milk from the tin can the cook shoved 
toward him. 

Now he noticed that the little cabin had a window 
and a door on each side. The stove and the cup- 
board occupied the stern end of the cabin. The 
forward end of the cabin contained bunks, built one 
above another, along the sides, where several men 
could sleep. The forward end of the cabin had 
been converted into a little pilot-house, with glass 
windows along its entire front and a door at each 
side, where the captain operated the boat. 

For, like most of the oyster craft, the Bertha B 
had been changed from sailing ship to power boat. 
The four-cylindered gasoline engine that drove the 
ship and operated the oyster-dredges stood immedi- 
ately below the cabin bunk room. Alec could see 
the engine, for a little hatchway in the floor of the 


20 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 

cabin led directly to the engine room. The hatch 
was open and Alec could see a man oiling and 
adjusting the engine, preparatory to getting under 
way. 

When Alec had eaten his fill, the cook began to 
wash the dishes. Alec picked up a dish towel and 
dried them. The cook seemed surprised and 
pleased. Alec stacked the dishes away in a tiny 
cupboard behind the bunks, at the cook’s direction, 
while the cook folded up the table and stowed it in 
a rack overhead, leaving the tiny cabin clear and 
orderly. 

“ Thanks,” smiled Dick, when they had finished; 
and the way the cook spoke made Alec feel that 
he had won a friend. 

“ If a little thing like drying the dishes will win 
friends for a fellow,” said Alec to himself, “ I’ll 
wipe them every time I get a chance. I never 
realized until the last few weeks how much friends 
mean to a fellow.” 

To the cook he said, “ Will it be all right for me 
to go on deck? ” 

“ Sure,” said the cook. “ But put this on.” And 
from a bunk he pulled a heavy reefing- jacket. 

Gratefully Alec pulled on the coat and stepped 
out on deck. By this time the eastern sky was 
aglow. The fog-bank had dissipated. The sun 
was not yet up, but there was sufficient light for 
Alec to see. 

The first thing to catch his attention was the ship 
that had fouled the Bertha B and the boats along- 


THE FLEET SETS SAIL 


21 


side of her. These craft, as close together as the 
fingers of one’s hand, lay with their noses pointing 
up-stream. Across the bows of the outermost was 
jammed the offending vessel, the rushing ebb-tide 
holding her fast. The end of her bowsprit dangled 
helplessly and a broken jib-stay was waving about 
in the wind. Jammed tight in her rigging was 
the bowsprit of one of the ships she had fouled, 
holding her tight, like an apple spitted on a stick. 
But no damage had been done excepting to the 
offending vessel herself. Men were pushing 
against the ship with boat-hooks, while Captain 
Hardy’s own crew were pumping at a capstan from 
which a hawser, stretched tight as a fiddle string, 
ran to an up-stream pier. 

The master of the boat was an evil-looking fel- 
low, as burly as he was hard-featured. In a great, 
roaring voice he was cursing his crew, blaming them 
for the mishap he was responsible for himself. 
With angry impatience Captain Bagley watched 
the efforts that were making to free the boat. 

“ The old fool,” he muttered, and to Alec he 
said, “ That fellow ought to be doing time at 
Trenton. He’s always up to something crooked. 
The last time they caught him, he was dredging 
illegally in the natural beds. He got off with a 
fine, but I reckon the next time he gets caught in 
any crooked business, he’ll go to prison.” 

For a few moments Alec watched the sailors 
pumping at the capstan. Then his gaze shifted to 
other interesting sights about him. 


22 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 


Down-stream and up, rose a forest of masts ; for 
the pier off which the Bertha B now lay was only 
one of a score or more parallel piers. And off each 
pier were moored six or eight vessels, with still 
other ships at greater distances, tied along the 
shore beyond the great pier shed. There were scores 
and scores of boats, mostly two-masted schooners. 
Across the river, which was perhaps 1,000 feet wide, 
was a second great pier shed that extended along 
the shore for hundreds of feet, also with piers run- 
ning out from it into the river every few rods. 
And here, and along the shore above and below the 
piers, were anchored other scores of boats. Alto- 
gether, the oyster fleet numbered some hundreds 
of vessels. 

On every ship were signs of activity. In every 
rigging red and green lights already sparkled, or 
men were about to hoist them. On some ships 
white lights glimmered aloft; while more and more 
boats were showing white lights at their sterns. 

Fascinated, Alec watched the scene. For ship 
after ship, on either side of the river, now cast off 
her lines, swung gracefully with the current and 
headed down-stream. On every hand rose the 
steady put-put-put of ships’ motors. For although 
most of the oyster craft still carried sails, practically 
all of them were driven by gasoline, their sails being 
used merely as auxiliaries to their engines, or to 
steady them when dredging in a wind. 

And now Alec saw something that made his eyes 
fairly pop open with astonishment. Down-stream 


THE FLEET SETS SAIL 


23 


came a shapely schooner, sails set and bellying in 
the wind. But it was neither wind nor tide that 
drove her so fast. For behind her, immediately 
below her white stern light, was a chugging motor- 
boat, nose hard against the schooner, pushing her 
along at a merry pace. Alec could hardly trust 
his eyes. For the little motor-boat was fastened 
with its nose high in air and its stern deep in the 
tide, and had not a soul aboard of her. But above 
her, at the wheel on the stern of the schooner, stood 
a silent steersman. While Alec was debating with 
himself as to whether he should believe what he saw 
or not, a second oyster-boat came slipping by, also 
driven by a little power boat astern. Before he 
reached the oyster-beds, Alec saw dozens of boats 
so operated; and the cook told him that when the 
oyster-boats changed from sail power to motors, 
some ships, like the Bertha B, had had engines 
installed in their holds, while others were driven 
instead by small power boats. 

Presently the ship across their bow was pulled 
loose, freeing the little fleet. The outer vessel im- 
mediately cast loose, swung in the tide, and headed 
down the river. Meantime, a bell rang, there was 
a sudden chug-chug-chug alongside, the clank of 
machinery was heard below, and the Bertha B began 
to vibrate. The captain was warming up his motor. 

Then, “ Cast off! ” came the order from the pilot- 
house. The hawsers were hauled aboard. The 
Bertha B moved forward, described a great arc in 
the river, and headed for the sea. 


24 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

Wonderful was the sight that now greeted Alec’s 
eyes. Like a flock of closely herded sheep, the 
oyster-boats were making for the dredging grounds. 
Before him, beside him, and behind him, their sails 
showing faintly in the dim light, Alec saw scores of 
moving ships. Now he understood the purpose of 
all the lights he had seen hoisted. Ahead of him 
dozens of stern lights shone white, showing exactly 
where each ship was riding. And astern, red and 
green lights flashed their guiding signals. 

As the light grew stronger, the scenes around the 
Bertha B stood out more and more distinctly. Ac- 
customed as Alec was to mountains and limited 
views, the pictures that now unfolded before his 
eyes were like visions of a new world. The view 
was boundless. At least, it stretched level to the 
distant horizon in every direction. East, west, 
north, south, look where he would, the land was as 
level as a floor. The river wound about like a 
snake, and after the Bertha B had traversed one 
or two of these serpentine reaches, she seemed to be 
in the centre of a vast marsh-land. Everywhere 
stretched limitless areas of salt meadow. Cattails, 
tall rushes, reeds, salt hay, sedges, and other marshy 
growths, standing dead and sere, painted the 
marshes a monotonous brown. The slightest thing 
that rose above the general level seemed magnified 
into a great bulk. Here and there distant stacks 
of salt hay stood up against the sky-line; but they 
seemed huge, gigantic, unlike any haystacks Alec 
had ever seen. And here and there, also, stood 


THE FLEET SETS SAIL 


25 


solitary trees or groups of trees, seemingly thrust- 
ing their heads into the very clouds. 

But ever the young oysterman’s roving eye came 
back to the moving fleet. Two, three, and some- 
times even four abreast, trailing close on one an- 
other’s heels, the white oyster-boats moved out to 
sea in majesty. Overhead sailed innumerable gulls, 
watching for the scraps thrown from nautical break- 
fast tables. And when some cook stepped to his 
deck and dumped his table scrapings overboard, 
gulls came darting from far and near and settled 
down to fight and cry over the spoils. 

Suddenly Alec heard the captain’s voice. “ Come 
in here, youngster. I want to talk with you.” 

Alec made his way through the cabin into the 
pilot-house, which was just deep enough to allow a 
person to stand comfortably or to sit on a stool. 
The floor of the pilot-house was considerably higher 
than the deck level, and Alec could see much better 
here. Also, it was warm. And although he had 
been so fascinated by the scene that he had 
momentarily forgotten about the weather, he now 
realized that he had been cold out on the deck. 

A flash of light caught his eye. Then another 
light blinked at a much greater distance. “ What 
are those lights? ” Alec asked the captain. 

“ Those are the range-lights, to show the way 
into the harbor. And off there you can see East 
Point Light.” 

Alec followed the pointing Anger of the captain 
and saw, off the port bow, a third light gleaming. 


26 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 


“ We seem to be catching those fellows ahead/’ 
commented Alec. 

“ I reckon they’re stuck in the mud,” said the cap- 
tain. “ This northeast wind’s been blowing hard 
for eighteen hours. It will make pretty low 
water.” 

“ How much water does the Bertha B draw? ” 
inquired Alec. 

“ Four or five feet,” said the captain. 

“ Then we ought not to have any trouble,” said 
Alec. “ It looks as though this river was pretty 
deep.” 

“ Oh! There’s plenty of water in the river; but 
there’s a bar across the mouth of it, and with this 
wind blowing there won’t be much water over it.” 

Rapidly the Bertha B drew near the boats ahead 
of her. “ They’re all fast,” commented the captain, 
as they passed a schooner on which a sailor was 
sounding with a pole. “ Don’t believe he’s got 
three feet of water,” the captain added. “And 
look there! The bar’s clear out of water, with a 
fiock of gulls on it. That’s a sight you don’t often 
see — the bar out of water.” 

Alec looked where the captain was pointing, and 
there, a long distance off the port bow, where the 
river entered the Delaware Bay, was a distinct 
black streak ip the water, roughened at one end. 
The rough spots were gulls. But Alec would never 
have known that the black streak was a strip of mud 
and the knobby end was a mass of birds, had not 
the captain told him. 


THE FLEET SETS SAIL 


27 


“Are we going to get through? ” asked Alec, for 
the Bertha B was still slowly forging ahead. 

“ I don’t know,” said the captain. “ We’re in 
the mud now, but we’ve got a good engine and if we 
can keep in the channel, maybe we can make it. 
But she’s hard to steer in the mud and most of those 
boats are right in the channel.” 

Slowly the Bertha B continued to move through 
the mud. A short distance ahead of her a schooner 
lay directly in the path. The captain turned his 
wheel and tried to swing the Bertha B to one side, 
but she would not turn. Nearer she came and still 
nearer to the stranded schooner. But the captain 
could not turn her. A collision seemed inevitable. 

“ Let go that starboard dredge,” cried the captain 
to Sailor Bishop, who was still on deck. At the 
same instant the captain signalled sharply to the 
engineer. For a single moment the propeller 
ceased to turn. Then the Bertha B trembled from 
end to end, as the engine started again, full speed 
astern. The effect was instantaneous. The 
Bertha B almost stopped in her tracks. Before 
ever the sailor could reach the dredge and heave it 
overboard, the oyster-boat swung slightly to one 
side and lay still. ‘ 

“ Never mind that dredge,” called the captain. 
To Alec he said, “ We’re done. All we can do is 
to lay here and wait for the tide to float us.” 


CHAPTER III 


OVER THE BAR 

T he Bertha B now lay as motionless as “ a 
painted ship upon a painted ocean.” The 
captain released his hold of the steering-wheel and 
turned toward Alec, studying his face again. 

“ How old are you? ” he asked. 

“ I’ll be nineteen on my next birthday.” 

“ You are pretty big for your age.” 

“ I’m five feet, ten inches,” laughed Alec, “ and 
I don’t believe I’m done growing yet.” 

“ No. You’ll be a six footer before you’re done. 
Was your father a large man? ” 

“No, sir. I am already two inches taller than 
he was.” 

“ Where do you get your size from? Was your 
mother large? ” 

“ No, sir. I’ve seen pictures of my mother, and 
she wasn’t as tall as Dad. I guess it must come 
from good food and exercise.” 

“ If that’s the case, you ought to keep right on 
growing. You’ll get plenty of both aboard an 
oyster-boat.” 

“ If the breakfast I had was a fair sample, I’m 
sure there will be plenty of food.” 

28 


OVER THE BAR 


29 


“ I’ll see that you get plenty of exercise, too,” 
smiled the captain. 

Again he looked Alec over, seemingly in ap- 
praisal of his physical powers. “ You don’t look 
like a working boy,” he said. “ What kind of 
exercise have you been used to? ” 

“I never had to work for my living,” replied Alec, 
“ because I was going to school and Dad supported 
me. But I did all the chores at home — chopped the 
wood, took care of the ashes, dug the garden, and 
so on. And I was on the high school athletic 
teams.” 

“ Humph! ” snorted the captain. “ That’s hard 
work, that is — playing a little baseball.” 

Alec flushed slightly, but made no reply. He 
knew well enough that the captain had never played 
a hard game of football or he would not have made 
that remark. 

“Know anything about water or boats?” the 
captain asked, after an interval. 

“ I’ve been used to little sailboats and canoes all 
my life, sir, and I can swim.” 

Alec might have added that he was the champion 
swimmer of the Central City High School, but he 
wisely did not. 

“ Well,” rejoined the captain, “ that may be use- 
ful to you. There are too many sailors who cannot 
swim.” 

“ Sailors who cannot swim,” repeated Alec in 
astonishment. “ Why, I supposed all sailors could 
swim.” 


30 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

“ Then you supposed wrong. Lots of ’em can’t 
swiip a stroke.” 

The captain thrust his head out of a window and 
surveyed the water. “ Tide’s about run out,” he 
said. 

Alec noticed that the water below them was mov- 
ing much slower than it had been. Accustomed as 
he was to an inland stream, in which the current 
always ran one way, the alternating flow of this 
tide-water stream interested him deeply. As he 
looked at the banks of the river, he could see that 
the water had fallen several feet. 

“ How much does the tide fall here? ” he asked. 

“About six feet, I reckon,” said the captain, “ but 
this is an unusually low tide. In fact, we haven’t 
had a tide as low as this in years. I don’t know 
when I’ve seen that bar out of w^ter before. This 
stiff northeast wind, coming straight down the river, 
has blown the water all out into the Bay.” 

“ Has the river fallen as much back at the pier 
as it has here? ” asked Alec, examining the shore 
carefully. 

“ Sure thing. There’s enough water to float a 
boat off the ends of the piers, but the slips between 
’em, where you saw the scows, haven’t an inch of 
water in ’em. They’re only mud-flats, now.” 

In the darkness Alec hadn’t seen much of the 
scows, but he did not tell the captain so. Instead, 
he said, “ It’s wonderful. Will it all run back 
now? ” 

“ You’ll see it start to flow back in a few minutes. 


OVEE THE BAE 


31 


Of course this won’t be a very high tide, for the 
wind that blew the water out of the river will keep 
some of it from running back.” 

“ Suppose the wind were blowing in exactly the 
opposite direction,” said Alec. “Would it blow 
the river full of water? ” 

“ That’s exactly what it would do. When that 
happens the water sometimes gets up over the pier 
you slept on. That’s a couple of feet higher than 
common.” 

“Whew!” whistled Alec. “That’s like our 
spring-floods inland. Everything gets covered 
with water.” 

“ Pretty much the same thing,” said the captain. 
“ But we’d a good deal rather have a high tide than 
one of your floods. High tides don’t do so much 
damage as your floods. And then the tides help us 
a great deal. But they was more useful before the 
days of power boats than they are now. In them 
days, if there wasn’t any wind to blow your boat, 
all you had to do was to wait for the tide to change, 
and you could go up-stream or down without a bit 
of wind. But now that we use gasoline, we don’t 
pay much attention to the tide.” 

Alec glanced out of the window again. The 
chips and bubbles that had been floating down- 
stream were now moving ever so slightly in the op- 
posite direction. 

“ Look! ” he cried. “ The tide’s running in.” 

“ Sure,” said the captain. “ I’ve been watching 
it. We’ll be off pretty soon.” 


32 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

Again the captain leaned out of his window and 
looked up-stream and down. “ Every last boat in 
the fleet is hung up/’ he said. “ Never knowed 
that to happen before. Some of ’em always gets 
through.” He closed the window and once more 
faced Alec. “ What was you studying in school? ” 
he asked. 

“ I took the usual required work in high school,” 
said Alec, “ but I was specializing in biology.” 

“ What’s that? ” 

“ The study of life j)rocesses,” replied Alec. 

The captain looked blank. “ What do you do in 
that study? ” he asked. 

“ Why, you try to find out all about the life of 
an animal, how it is born and how it grows and eats 
and multiplies. You dissect animals, and you 
examine them under a microscope. In short, you 
try to find out all about an animal’s life, just as you 
oystermen probably do with oysters.” 

“Humph!” snorted the captain. Then he 
laughed aloud. “ Now ain’t that an idea,” he ex- 
claimed, “ watching oysters under a microscope ! 
Young fellow, we ketch oysters, that’s what we do. 
We ketch ’em for people to eat.” 

“ But I’m sure it would help you to study them, 
too. A man can’t know too much about the things 
he handles.” 

“ If that’s the kind of nonsense they teach you at 
high school, I’m glad I never went to one. I can 
read and write, and that’s enough learnin’ for any 
oysterman.” 


OVER THE BAR 


33 


Alec made no reply, but the captain’s remark 
had set him thinking. He wondered if there were 
not an opportunity to apply his school training in 
the oyster business. He knew that science had 
almost revolutionized farming, and he wondered if 
the oyster business might not be somewhat like 
farming was before the days of the agricultural 
colleges. But he did not know, and he very wisely 
kept quiet. He determined that he would look into 
the matter as he had opportunity. 

He was silent so long that the captain suddenly 
remarked, “ Never mind what I said, lad. I didn’t 
mean to hurt your feelings.” 

“ You didn’t hurt my feelings,” smiled Alec. 
“ You just set me to thinking.” 

“ Tell me more about your life at Central City,” 
the captain went on. 

“ Well, there isn’t much to tell. My father 
worked for the electric light company, and I be- 
longed to the Camp Brady Wireless Patrol. But 
that probably wouldn’t interest you, any.” 

“ You mean that you know something about 
wireless telegraphy? ” 

“ Sure. I’ve got a little outfit with me in my 
valise. It isn’t much of an outfit, though, for I 
made it myself. But I can send and receive over 
a pretty good radius, even if it is home-made.” 

The captain looked at Alec with evident admira- 
tion. “ Do you mean you made the set yourself? ” 

“Absolutely. I can install it here on the Bertha 
B and take messages for you, if you’ll let me.” 


34 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

“ It’s a nice thing, wireless is,” replied the cap- 
tain, “ but it wouldn’t be any use on an oyster-boat. 
Besides, it would be in the way. You see how 
cramped we are for room. These boats was all 
right as long as they stuck to sails, but they filled 
up the hold with engines and winders and a lot of 
machinery when they turned ’em into power boats, 
and they ain’t big enough any longer. We can 
ketch twice as many oysters with power boats as we 
used to with sails, and we don’t have room to carry 
’em when we get a big catch. Some day they’ll build 
oyster-boats of a new sort. They’ll make ’em big- 
ger and higher and have room in the hold where we 
can put oysters. Then we can catch ’em all win- 
ter.” 

‘‘ Don’t you catch them in winter now? ” asked 
Alec in astonishment, for he distinctly recalled eat- 
ing oysters all through the winter season. 

“We have to carry ’em on deck,” explained 
Captain Bagley, “ and in cold weather they freeze. 
Then we have to stop dredging. Your winter 
oysters come from the Chesapeake, I reckon; at 
least in real cold weather. But tell me some more 
about this Wireless Patrol. What was it? ” 

“ Oh! Just a bunch of us fellows who had wire- 
less outfits. We used to talk to each other at night 
and listen in to all the news that’s flying about; and 
we used to go camping, too. When the war came, 
we knew enough about wireless to be of some use. 
We caught the German dynamiters at Elk City, 
and four of our boys helped the Secret Seiwice in 


OVEE THE BAE 


35 


New York run down the secret wireless of the 
Germans. One of our boys, Henry Harper, is a 
govermnent wireless man now, and Roy Mercer is 
wireless man on the steamer Lycoming running 
between New York and Galveston. Charley Rus- 
sell is a forest ranger back home in the state forest, 
and he got his job largely because of his ability with 
the wireless. They’re going to install a wireless 
system in his section of the forest, it is so useful in 
fighting forest fires.” 

“ You don’t say!” 

“ Sure. You see, Charley started as a fire patrol 
and he saved a tract of the finest timber in Penn- 
sylvania because he was able to call help promptly 
with his wireless. He’d have had to hike twenty- 
four miles over the mountains and back to get help 
if he hadn’t had his wireless outfit with him, and 
the fire would have got such a start it would have 
burned up the whole tract before they could have 
stopped it. Oh! You can do most anything with 
wireless. I’m sorry I can’t use my outfit aboard 
the Bertha B, I could string up my aerial between 
the masts, and I don’t believe my wires would be 
one bit in your way.” 

The captain smiled indulgently. “ Wireless is 
all right, I know,” he said. “ But we ain’t got any 
use for it on an oyster-boat. Our business is to 
ketch oysters.” 

“ Don’t you ever have accidents? ” inquired Alec. 
“ With so many ships sailing in the same place, I 
should think you would have collisions every day. 


36 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 

Why, I should think the oystermen would almost 
come to blows, like those gulls there fighting for 
table scraps.” 

“ I don’t quite get you,” said the captain, “ Why 
should we fight? ” 

“ To see who shall get the oysters, of course. 
Suppose that ship over there wanted to dredge in 
exactly the same spot you have in mind. How are 
you going to prevent her from doing it? And 
where will you get your oysters then? ” 

“ Well, you are a landlubber, for sure,” laughed 
the captain. “ Why, no other oysterman would 
dare come on my grounds. I’d send him to jail, 
if he did.” 

“What!” cried Alec. “You don’t mean that 
you own part of the oyster-bed? I supposed the 
government owned all navigable waters. Our 
Susquehanna River is a public stream.” 

“ Right you be, lad. The government does own 
the Delaware Bay, but it leases the oyster-beds, or 
at least land for oyster-beds, to private individ- 
uals. Each oysterman has his own grounds, just as 
each of your Pennsylvania farmers has his own 
farm.” 

“Are you kidding me? ” asked Alec, mindful of 
the reputation sailors have for spinning yarns. 

“ Not a bit,” replied the captain. “ I thought 
everybody knew that.” 

“ But how could a man have an oyster-bed sepa- 
rate from all the other beds in a big body of water 
like the Delaware Bay? Why, it must be miles and 


OVER THE BAR 


37 


miles in width. How could anybody tell just where 
his oysters were, in such a vast expanse of water? ” 

“ How could he tell? ” snorted the captain. 
“ How can a farmer tell where his farm is, with so 
much land all around it? ” 

“ Why, he’d fence it in, of course, or mark the 
boundary lines in some way.” 

“ Well, young fellow, oystermen have just as 
much brains as farmers. And they are just as 
particular to fence in their own gi'ounds, too.” 

Alec’s face was blank for a moment. Then he 
smiled broadly. “ Now you are kidding me,” he 
said. 

“ Not for a minute,” said the captain. “ Do you 
see that boat over there — the Mary and Hattie? ” 

“ Sure! ” 

“ Do you see those long poles she carries over 
her starboard rail, near the stern? They’re long 
saplings with all the branches trimmed off but the 
top ones.” 

“ I see them,” said Alec. 

“ Well, those are the kind of markers we use to 
stake off an oyster-bed. You see there are natural 
beds in the Bay, where the state won’t allow any 
dredging except to ketch seed-oysters for spring 
planting. But an oysterman can lease as much 
land elsewhere as he wants and plant it with oysters. 
The state surveys it and then the oj^sterman marks 
it off with those poles. And if anybody but the 
owner dredges oysters in that ground he’ll get just 
what a fellow would get if he went into a farmer’s 


38 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOB 

field and stole his crops. The oysterman owns 
every oyster in his bed.” 

“Honestly?” asked Alec, who was so much 
astonished that he forgot his manners. “ Why, I 
supposed that the oysters grew anywhere on the 
bottom and that the oystermen just dredged wher- 
ever they felt like dredging.” 

“ Humph! ” said the captain. “ There’d be a lot 
of oysters left in a few years if we did that. The 
beds would be dredged clean. That’s the way they 
used to ketch oysters, and the state had to put a 
stop to it in order to save any oysters at all. Why, 
the whole Atlantic coast used to be covered with 
oysters, and now there’s only a few beds left. This 
bed in the Maurice River Cove is one of the most 
valuable in the whole United States. But it 
wouldn’t last long if the state didn’t regulate 
oystering.” 

“ How does the state regulate it? ” asked Alec. 

“ Well, there’s the natural bed I told you about. 
That lies above what we call the Southwest Line. 
Nobody dare dredge above that line except in May 
and June to ketch seed-oysters. That gives the 
oysters in the natural bed a chance to multiply from 
year to year, so as to provide the necessary seed.” 

“ But what’s to prevent a boat from slipping in 
there and dredging oysters on the sly? If the boats 
are scattered all over the Bay, and each boat is 
busy dredging on its own ground, I don’t see what’s 
to hinder a dishonest captain from stealing the 
state’s oysters.” 


OVER THE BAR 


39 


Captain Bagiev lowered a window-sash and 
craned his neck, so he could look up-stream. “ See 
that long, low power boat up there? ” he asked, after 
running his eye over the fleet behind him. “ That’s 
one of the guard-boats. The state has four of ’em. 
They’re fast little craft and they watch the fleet 
every minute. I think that’s the Dianthus. She 
knows just where every boat belongs, and if a fel- 
low dredges on state land or on some other fellow’s 
ground, she’ll nab him quick.” 

“ Why, that’s just like a police force,” said Alec. 

“ That’s exactly what it is. You see this oyster 
business has grown to be a big thing. We shipped 
nine million dollars’ worth of oysters out of Bivalve 
last year, and the state ain’t takin’ no chances on 
having that business wTecked. So the state keeps 
pretty close watch on us.” 

“ Don’t it make you kind of nervous, to be 
watched all the time? ” asked Alec. 

Lord bless you ! ” said the captain. “We ain’t 
got no reason to be nervous. We’d rather have that 
guard-boat there than not. It protects our prop- 
erty when we’re not around. Most of the oyster- 
men in this fleet is as honest as the day is long. 
They wouldn’t touch another man’s grounds if 
you’d pay ’em. But we do have a few crooked ones, 
like any other business, and they have to be watched. 
The guard-boats don’t pay much attention to the 
rest of us, but they keep pretty close tab on skippers 
that are known to be dishonest. Hello! The 
Dianthus is moving. We’ll see what we can do.” 


40 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

The captain leaned forward and rang his bell. 
The motor began to turn and the ship once more 
vibrated. Slowly the Bertha B moved ahead. 
The caj)tain swung her toward the channel. 
Around her the water was inky black, where her 
propeller was churning up the mud. The water 
deepened and the vessel gained headway. In a 
moment she was going smoothly. The bar ahead 
had disappeared. The tide was rising rapidly. 
All about her, other ships were starting or trying to 
start. Those with power forged slowly ahead 
through the mud until they reached the centre of 
the channel. A few that depended upon their sails 
alone were forced by the wind to circle about be- 
fore they could head toward the oyster grounds. 
Everywhere the scene was one of animation. 
Ahead of the Bertha B and behind her, ships by the 
score were once more in motion. The water 
sparkled in the light of the rising sun. And as 
the river widened into the Bay, the water began to 
roll and billow under the strong sweep of the rising 
wind. 

On went the Bertha B, To her left stretched 
East Point, a long, low finger of sand, reaching 
far out into the water, the square, white lighthouse, 
surmounted by its round light tower, bulking huge 
against the horizon. On the right stretched limit- 
less reaches of brown marsh-land. Behind her ran 
the serpentine river. And before her lay the Bay, 
a waste of tossing water. As far as Alec could 
see, nothing else was visible. It was his first sight 


OVER THE BAR 


41 


of salt water, and he stood entranced, fascinated by 
the picture of the tumbling waves, the darting gulls, 
and the fair white ships, heading out to the oyster 
gi'ounds, like sheep on the way to pasture. 


CHAPTER IV 


DREDGING OYSTERS 

S UDDENLY Sailor Bishop appeared on deck. 

He drew off the cover of the forward hatch 
and dropped into the hold. Then broad-bladed 
oyster shovels, oyster baskets, culling hammers, and 
other implements were shoved up through the hatch- 
way. 

“ I can help him with that,” said Alec, and leav- 
ing the pilot-house, he made his way forward. But 
the sailor was already out of the hold and replacing 
the hatch cover. He grinned at Alec’s offer of 
assistance and said there was nothing to be done. 
Nor was there much to do. The necessary shovels 
and baskets were placed amidship, where they could 
be reached easily by the men at the dredges. Then 
the two stood side by side on the deck, looking at 
the animated scene. The wind still blew fresh and 
the air was cold. But with the warm coat outside 
of him and a good breakfast inside, Alec was not 
the least bit chilled. The fresh air was invigorat- 
ing. 

The members of the Wireless Patrol had always 
been told to keep their eyes and ears open and their 
mouths closed; and Alec now tried to practice what 
he had been taught. The oyster-dredges interested 
42 


DEEBGING OYSTEES 


43 


him keenly. These were huge iron frames, shaped 
like wish-bones, with ends that curved over like 
hooks, and that were connected by a straight iron 
bar. This bar was armed with huge iron teeth, 
like those of a rake. This toothed bar was intended 
to drag along the bottom and rake up the oysters, 
as pebbles are raked together with a garden rake. 
The oysters so caught were held in a bag or net- 
work, made of iron rings and links, that was 
fastened to the frame of the dredge. 

On either side of the ship lay one of these dredges, 
ready to be put overboard. Immediately before 
each dredge, and mounted in the ship’s rail, was a 
horizontal iron roller, and just back of this was a 
vertical roller. It was perfectly evident that the 
horizontal roller was intended for use in pulling the 
dredge in and out of the ship, while the vertical 
roller would revolve under pressure of the dredge 
chain as this paid out after the dredge was tossed 
overboard. The chain, in each case, was fastened 
to the apex of the dredge, or what might be called 
the top of the wish-bone; and these chains, one 
from each side, led directly to the winders amid- 
ships, which were simply revolving drums or spools 
of iron that wound up the dredge chains. 

Alec was more than eager to see the outfit work, 
but the ship went on and on at full speed. 

‘‘ How far do we have to go before we begin to 
dredge? ” he finally asked his companion. 

‘‘ I reckon our grounds are about eight miles out,” 
replied the sailor. 


44 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

Alec opened his eyes wide, but said nothing. By 
this time they were far offshore. They could still 
see the trees and haystacks on the meadows but the 
shore-line was becoming more and more indistinct. 
The oyster-boats had scattered in every direction, 
and now that the ships had separated there did not 
seem to be nearly as many of them. 

“ There’s Egg Island Light,” said the sailor, 
pointing ahead to starboard. 

Alec looked, and finally made out what seemed 
to him a tiny, dark column in the gray waves. 
With every minute the expanse of water widened 
and the shore grew more indistinct. Suddenly 
Alec’s attention was attracted by something far 
ahead in the water. He saw at once that it was a 
little cluster of saplings, such as he had seen lashed 
to the side of the Mary and Hattie. Their bushy 
tops gave them the appearance of a tiny thicket 
growing right in the water. Then he saw a second 
cluster of stakes, and beyond them, at intervals, 
other stakes. All these little groups of stakes were 
in a straight line, so that the effect was, indeed, not 
unlike a long fence-row. As the Bertha B drew 
nearer to the oyster-beds, Alec could see stakes in 
every direction. Most of them, he noticed, were 
just bare poles, that stuck out of water two or 
three feet, like the tips of so many fishing poles. 
But some groups of stakes were still bushy at the 
top, like the first clusters he had seen. He asked 
his companion why two sorts of stakes were used. 

“ They was all alike when they was put down,” 


DEEDGING OYSTEES 


45 


said Sailor Bishop, “ but most of them have lost 
their tops. The waves and the ice and the oyster- 
boats themselves break olf the little branches at the 
tops, leaving only the bare poles.’’ 

“ Then why aren’t all the tops broken and not 
just some? ” 

“ Oh! Those bushy ones have just been put 
down. You see the oystermen like to mark their 
beds well in the fall. It makes it so much easier 
to find their grounds when spring comes.” 

“ What do you mean? ” 

“ Why, if this happens to be a cold winter, every 
pole in sight may be broke off by the ice. If a 
skipper has put down fresh poles just before winter, 
he can find his bed pretty easy when spring comes.” 

“ How? ” asked Alec in amazement. “ How can 
he ever tell where his grounds are if his stakes are 
gone? ” 

“ Well, they won’t be gone altogether. Just the 
tops are broke off. At low tide there’ll be some 
stumps sticking up. A skipper just sails out and 
gets the range of his beds and then hunts for his 
stakes till he finds them. Then he puts down new 
stakes.” 

“ But how can he ever get his range, as you call 
it?” 

“ Oh! He knows his landmarks. You see Egg 
Island Light over there, and just behind it that 
tall clump of trees? Well, if we had an oyster-bed 
right here, that light and those trees would always 
be in a line when we are over our bed. Now if he 


46 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPBEATOK 

had some landmarks in this other direction, too, a 
skipper could always tell when he was right on this 
spot, for he’d have to have both sets of landmarks 
in line.” 

“ Why, that’s nothing but triangulation,” said 
Alec. “We studied that in school.” 

“ I don’t know what they call it in school, but 
that’s the way a skipper finds an oyster-bed when 
his stakes is gone.” 

“ What I don’t understand,” questioned Alec, 
“ is why the ice doesn’t take the stakes away alto- 
gether, instead of just breaking off the branches at 
the tops of the stakes.” 

“ Lord bless you, son! You couldn’t pull them 
stakes up with a derrick.” 

“ Why not? ” 

“ Because they’re down in the mud five or six 
feet and it holds them tighter’n a porous plaster 
sticks to your back.” 

“ How do you ever get them down so deep? ” 

“ Oh! They go down easy as a rule. You just 
take a stake under your arm and work it down into 
the mud. It goes down easy enough, but it won’t 
come out for nothing. Sometimes, though, when 
the mud’s tough or the bottom sandy, they won’t 
go down nohow. Then we have to pump them 
down.” 

“ Pump them down! ” cried Alec in astonishment. 
“ What do you mean? ” 

“ Why, we fasten a hose to the sharp end of the 
stake, and the engine sucks the mud or sand up 


DEEDGING OYSTERS 


47 


through the hose as we work the stake down. I 
tell you them stakes never comes up ! ” 

“ Does it take long to stake out an oyster-bed? ” 
asked Alec. 

“ Well, that depends upon the weather and the 
mud and a lot of other things. If an oyster captain 
is too busy to put down his own poles, he can get 
a stake sticker to do it for him.” 

“ What’s that? ” 

“ Oh! There’s lots of men with little boats, who 
ain’t got money enough to start oystering them- 
selves, that make a business of putting out stakes 
for men who have beds. They charge a dollar a 
stake, and in a good day they can put down twenty- 
five or thirty stakes.” 

“ Whew! There must be big money in that. I 
should think everybody would become stake stick- 
ers instead of oystermen.” 

“ It ain’t as good as it sounds. A man has to 
own a boat before he can be even a stake sticker. 
And he’s got to hire two or three men to help him, 
and pay for the poles as well. And then it’s work 
that lasts only a little while each year. So I reckon 
there ain’t so much in it after all.” 

“ Likely not,” said Alec. “ It’s like a lot of 
other things in life. The less you know about it, 
the better it looks.” 

Just then the captain’s voice was heard. “ Hey! 
Kid! Come here.” 

Alec turned and saw the captain beckoning to 
him. He made his way back to the pilot-house. 


48 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

“ We’re almost to our grounds,” said the captain, 
“ and we don’t want to lose a minute. Pull on 
them oilskins. You can’t ketch oysters in them 
duds of yourn. You’d soon be soaked.” 

The captain pointed to a suit of oilskins hanging 
above his bunk. Alec pulled the waterproof 
clothes, which were bright yellow in color, over his 
other clothes, and exchanged his cap for the cap- 
tain’s sou’wester. Then he took off his shoes and 
got into the captain’s boots. 

“ Bishop will tell you what to do, young ’un,” 
said the captain, “ and be darned careful about 
them winder chains. More’n one man’s had his 
arm took off in this fleet by winder chains.” 

Alec went forward. “ What do you want me 
to do? ” he asked the sailor. 

“You help me handle this dredge. We pull it 
in this way,” and he indicated how he and Alec were 
to take hold of it. “And then we grab them round 
rings and dump the oysters out on the deck. Then 
we shove the dredge overboard again and go to 
culling. I’ll show you how to do that when we 
get some oysters. We’re almost there now. See 
them four bunches of stakes? They’re the corners 
of our grounds.” 

“ How big is this bed? ” asked Alec. 

“ I reckon about ten acres, but Cap’n Rumford’s 
got a good many other beds farther out. I reckon 
he must have more’n a thousand acres of oysters.” 

“Cap’n Rumford?” asked Alec. “Who’s he? 
I thought our captain’s name was Bagley.” 


DEEDGING OYSTERS 


49 


The sailor looked at Alec and laughed. “ So it 
is,’^ he said. “ But he’s merely the cap’n of this 
boat. Cap’n Rumford’s the owner of the outfit. 
We’re just workin’ for him.” 

“ Do you dredge all the oysters from those thou- 
sand acres? ” 

“Lord bless you!” laughed the sailor. “It 
takes a whole fleet to do that. Cap’n Rumford has 
three or four boats going all the time.” 

“ Isn’t that an awful lot of oysters — a thousand 
acres? ” 

“ I reckon it’s just about the biggest oyster-bed 
down here. You’re dead lucky to start oystering 
with the Rumford outfit, lad. As long as you do 
the right thing by the cap’n, he’ll sure treat you 
white.” 

Just then the cook and the engineer came on 
deck. “ Now me and you will handle this dredge,” 
said Sailor Bishop, “ and Dick and Joe’ll take care 
of the other. Just git over on that side of the 
dredge. And watch them chains. We’re almost 
ready.” 

The Bertha B passed one of the clumps of stakes 
that Sailor Bishop had pointed out. 

And at once, “ Let go your dredges ! ” came the 
order from the pilot-house. 

Alec and the sailor seized the starboard dredge 
by which they stood, and Dick and Joe grasped the 
other; and both dredges shot overboard at the same 
instant. The chains paid out against the vertical 
rollers with a loud rattle* Alec stood silent. 


50 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 


eagerly awaiting the first haul. He wondered 
what would be in the dredge. The engine con- 
tinued to churn up the water, and the Bertha B 
forged ahead, dragging her heavy, clumsy dredges 
behind her. 

“ How deep is this bed? ” asked Alec. 

“ About eighteen or twenty feet, I reckon.” 

“ Are they all as deep as that? ” 

No. Some of them ain’t more than ten feet 
deep. It all depends upon ” 

Suddenly there was a loud, clanking soimd in 
the hold. The chain of the starboard dredge began 
to grow taut. 

“ Look out for that chain,” warned the sailor 
again, as it began to reel up. 

Suddenly the dredge shot out of water and fol- 
lowed the chain over the roller. Alec and the 
sailor grabbed it and shoved it to the deck. In 
another second they had thrust the dredge back 
over the side. 

The sailor picked up a culling hammer, which 
was very much like an enlarged tack-hammer, and 
fell to sorting oysters. The very largest he put in 
a basket by themselves. These were “ primes,” 
and there were few of them. The remaining 
oysters, the “ culls,” he dropped into another basket 
as fast as he could sort them out. Many old 
oyster shells had come up with the dredge. These 
and the “ rattlers ” (oysters with cracked or broken 
shells), the sailor raked into a little pile by them- 
selves with his culling hammer. The rattlers were 


DEEDGING OYSTEKS 


51 


detected by tapping the shells with the hammer. 
They gave forth a hollow, rattling sound. 

Alec dropped on one knee, in imitation of his 
companion, and also began to cull the oysters. At 
first he was somewhat clumsy; but with a little 
practice, he acquired considerable dexterity. In 
the heap with the oysters were a few clams, a small 
crab, a conch shell, and an evil-looking fish, that 
the sailor struck in the head with his culling ham- 
mer and contemptuously called a “ Cape May 
minister.” When the sailor had filled his basket 
with cull oysters, he dumped it in the middle of the 
deck hard against the pilot-house. Then he dropped 
a single oyster in a basket that stood in front of the 
winders. Alec filled his basket and the sailor 
dumped it also and dropped another oyster in the 
basket. It was the method of keeping tally. 

Meantime the other dredge had come aboard, 
and Dick and Joe were also hard at it. The cap- 
tain, operating the dredges from the pilot-house, 
brought up the dredges at frequent intervals. 
When the starboard dredge chain began to wind 
up again, Alec and the sailor seized their shovels 
and shoveled the old shells and rattlers overboard 
again. But try as they would, they could hardly 
cull their pile of oysters before another dredgeful 
came aboard. Alec observed that Sailor Bishop 
was much the quickest of the three men at the 
dredges. He determined to watch him closely and 
try to become just as expert himself. 

Also he understood v^hy the captain had had him 


62 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

don water-proof clothes. The deck was adrip with 
water from the oysters, and every few minutes a 
wave splashed against the side of the boat, drench- 
ing the schooner with spray. Without the oilskins 
Alec would soon have been wet to the hide. 

He found, too, that he needed more than oilskins 
to protect him. His fingers were rapidly becoming 
raw, and he saw that they would soon be cut to the 
bone by the sharp shells. His companions all wore 
rubber finger-stalls and Alec sighed with relief 
when he found that he could borrow some for his 
own fingers. 

Presently Alec noticed that another oyster-boat 
was dredging in the adjoining bed. As the two 
boats sailed back and forth, passing and repassing 
each other, Alec couldn’t help thinking how much 
like two farmers they were, plowing in adjoining 
fields. The other boat was one of the few ships 
in the fleet that still operated by wind power. 
Alec thought her a beautiful sight as she heeled 
over before the sharp wind, and sent the waves 
foaming from her bow and the spray dashing high. 
And she was far more picturesque than the Bertha 
B, which spread no sails at all. For this ship had 
all her sails set, and her steersman stood on deck 
in the open, vigorously twirling his steering-wheel. 

The day wore on. Monotonously the Bertha B's 
propeller churned the yeasty waves. The winders 
rattled and clanked. Regularly the dredges came 
aboard and were dropped back again into the waves. 
The wind blew fresh. The sun shone bright. The 


DEEDGING OTSTEES 


53 


waves sparkled. The pile of oysters before the 
pilot-house grew larger and larger. From time to 
time the cook slipped into the cabin, and Bishop 
stepped across the deck to help Joe with the other 
dredge. Now that he had acquired some facility 
in handling the oysters, and his fingers no longer 
smarted with the salt water, Alec enjoyed every 
moment. He didn’t feel the least bit seasick, and 
the cool, fresh air was delightful to breathe. But 
he could see that in cold, stormy weather it would 
be anything but fun to work on the open deck of 
an oyster-boat. Time passed faster than he 
dreamed. For suddenly the Bertha B's whistle 
blew. The oystermen stopped work as though 
they had been shot. 

“ What’s wrong? ” asked Alec. 

“ Nothing,” said Bishop. “ It’s time for din- 
ner.” 

“ But it canH be noon yet,” insisted Alec. 

“ It isn’t. We eat dinner at ten o’clock on an 
oyster-boat.” 

“ Well, I’m not sorry to hear it,” said Alec. “ It 
can’t come too early for me.” 

After dinner, dredging was resumed. By mid 
afternoon more than four hundred baskets of 
oysters were heaped up on deck of the Bertha B, 
Then the dredges were stowed aboard, and the ship 
headed for the mouth of the river. From every 
direction other boats were making for the same 
point. But this time there was no bar visible. 
There was water aplenty. Up the river raced the 


54 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

oyster-boats, sometimes three and even four abreast, 
every ship piled high with oysters. On the way 
up the river supper was served. Before five o’clock 
the Bertha B had reached the oyster piers. She 
pulled on past them to a huge float, on which the 
oysters were shoveled to allow them to lie in the 
brackish water to fatten. Then the deck was 
washed and the implements stowed in the hold. 
Captain Bagley headed the Bertha B down-stream 
once more, and in a few minutes she was moored 
snugly to the very pier on which Alec had sought 
shelter the night before. 

But it was a very different world to Alec. He 
had a warm place to sleep on the Bertha B; he had 
all he could eat; he had a job; and he had found 
friends. He didn’t know yet how much his job 
would pay him, for it hadn’t occurred to him to ask. 
It was enough for the present to know that he had 
work and would no longer have to go hungry. 
About his new friends he knew almost nothing; but 
he felt sure they were going to be friends, for they 
all had treated him in a kindly fashion. Concern- 
ing his future he had as yet little idea. A few 
weeks previously it had never occurred to him that 
he would ever be an oysterman. But now that he 
had had a taste of oystering and had begun to get 
an insight into it, he saw at once that it was entirely 
possible that he might become an oysterman. He 
knew that men could rise in the oyster business as 
well as in any other. Like the sensible boy he was, 
Alec told himself that he would work as hard as 


DEEDGINQ OYSTEES 


55 


he could, learn all he could, and earn and save all 
he could. If he got ready for an opportunity, the 
opportunity might come. Now that he did have 
to support himself, he meant to make the best job 
of it he knew how. 


CHAPTER V 


EVENING AT THE OYSTER PIER 

O N the way across the river every man in the 
crew had pulled off his oilskins, and now all 
were ready to go ashore. 

“ Come along with me, Alec,” said Captain Bag- 
ley as he scrambled over the rail. 

The Bertha B's pier, and all the other piers, were 
covered for the greater part of their length by an 
enormous roof sloping up to the building that ex- 
tended along the landward side of the piers. This 
building, hundreds of feet in length, was tenanted 
by the various oyster shippers. Each occupied a 
small section of it containing wareroom and storage 
compartments on the pier level, and office rooms on 
the floor above. At every pier little openings, like 
tiny tunnels, led through this long building to the 
wide shipping platform on the farther side, where 
the trains were loaded. 

Captain Bagley entered one of these tunnel-like 
passages, but half-way through he stepped into a 
little wareroom, nearly filled with sacked oysters, 
and mounted some narrow wooden stairs. Alec 
followed close at his heels. The stairs led to the 
office of Captain Rumford, and that individual was 
56 


EVENING AT THE OYSTEE PIEE 57 

sitting behind his desk, addressing shipping tags. 
He looked iip as Captain Bagley entered, said 
“ Hello! ” and went on addressing tags. Captain 
Bagley sat down in a chair, by the pot-bellied stove 
in the centre of the room, and motioned for Alec to 
occupy a second chair. 

On the walls were hung pictures of boats, gaudy 
advertising calendars of oyster shippers and ship- 
chandlers, with models of oyster-boats, that Alec 
found very interesting. Oilskins hung on pegs 
and long boots stood in a corner, showing that Cap- 
tain Bumf or d was as well prepared for bad weather 
as any of his sailors. Alec rightly guessed that 
sometimes he went along with his boats to the oyster 
grounds. 

When Captain Rumford had finished his tags, 
he laid down his pen, turned away from his desk, 
and tilted back in his chair. “ Well, Bagley, how 
did it go to-day? ” he asked. 

“ Not so bad, not so bad,” replied Captain Bag- 
ley, “ everything considered. Looked bad for a 
time, though. That Hawley got drunk last night 
and snuk off after he’d had his breakfast. But this 
kid turned up and took his place. Then old Hardy 
fouled us and broke his bowsprit, and that held us 
up so long we got stuck on the bar. Every boat in 
the fleet got hung up. Bar was clean out o’ water. 
Made us late gettin’ out. But we got more than 
four hundred baskets at that. Not so bad, eh? 
Not so bad.” 

“ Good enough, Bagley. Who is the lad?” 


58 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

“ Name’s Alec Cunningham,” said Captain Bag- 
ley. “Alec, this is Captain Rumford.” 

Alec sprang to his feet, stepped to the captain’s 
side, and shook hands with him. 

He knew at once that he was going to like Cap- 
tain Rumford. The captain’s glance seemed to 
bore right through Alec. He felt as though the 
captain could read everything that was in his mind. 
But there was a kindly expression about his face 
that won Alec instantly. 

“Where do you come from?” asked Captain 
Rumford. “ I never saw you around here.” 

“ He come from up in Pennsylvania,” said Cap- 
tain Bagley, “ and he’s a nephew of my old buddy, 
Thomas Robinson, that was drowned when the 
Mary Ford's anchor purchase parted last spring. 
His parents is dead and he come here to find his 
uncle. Hit here last night without a cent and slept 
out on our pier in them oyster sacks. Darned 
wonder he didn’t freeze to death.” 

“ That’s a shame,” exclaimed Captain Rumford, 
“ with so many bunks around here he could have 
slept in. Why, there’s half a dozen in this office.” 

“ It didn’t hurt me any,” laughed Alec, “ but it 
was cold.” And a little shiver ran down his back 
at the recollection of his chilly bed. 

“ Wonder where Hawley got his booze,” said 
Captain Rumford presently. “ He was a pretty 
good man, wasn’t he? What are you going to do 
with him? ” 

“ Yes. He was a good worker, but I ain’t got 


EVENING AT THE OYSTER PIER 59 

time to fool with that kind o’ cattle. I’ll tell him 
to go aboard and get his things. I’ve got to have 
men I can depend on.” 

Captain Rumford arose and began to pull on his 
overcoat. “ Time to be getting home,” he said. 
“ Just a word with you, Bagley, before I go.” He 
entered an inner room, followed by his ship captain. 
“ Does this young chap intend to become an 
oysterman? ” asked the shipper. 

“ I don’t know that, Cap’n,” replied the master 
of the Bertha B, “ He was flat on his back when he 
struck here and would probably have taken any job 
he could get. Hadn’t had anything to eat for 
twenty-four hours.” 

“ Well, he’s got a good, clean face. I like the 
cut of his jib. Got lots of grit, if I ain’t mistaken. 
Looks as though he knew something, too.” 

“ He’s a wireless man. Got an outfit with him 
that he made himself. He’s had a high school 
education, too.” 

“ He has, eh? Well, I’ve been sizing him up, 
and I thought he was a clever lad. Got the making 
of a good man in him. How does he work? ” 

“ Good! Mighty good. Took right hold like 
an old-timer. Just had to see a thing done once, 
and he picked it up as though he had done it all his 
life.” 

“ Know anything about his habits? ” 

“ No. But he don’t use tobacco, and I’m pretty 
sure he never touched booze.” 

“ Well, take care of him, but don’t spoil him. 


60 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

Put him through the mill and see what he’s got in 
him. If he’s the lad I take him to be, we don’t 
want him to get away from us. It’s hard to find 
really good men nowadays. Well, I must get 
home. Now mind you don’t spoil him.” 

When the two men came back into the main 
office Captain Rumford said rather severely, 
“ Young man. Captain Bagley wants to take you 
on as a regular hand. He says he’s going to fire 
the fellow who was drunk this morning. I don’t 
know about it. I don’t know about it. It’s a 
risky thing to do, when we’re so short handed. 
Jim Hawley is a good worker.” 

“ Oh, sir, if only you will let me stay,” pleaded 
Alec, “ you’ll never be sorry. It’s true I don’t 
know anything about oystering yet, but I can learn, 
sir. And I can and will work as hard as any- 
body. I need the work — need it terribly. Please, 
sir, give me a chance.” 

“ Well,” said the shipper, ‘‘ I make it a rule not 
to interfere with my captains. Bagley says he 
wants you, and I suppose I shall have to humor 
him. Your uncle was a great friend of his. But 
mind, you can’t hold a job on one of my boats just 
because your uncle was a friend of the skipper. 
I’ll give you a job. But it’s up to you to keep it. 
Understand? ” 

“ Thank you, sir. Thank you,” said Alec grate- 
fully. “ It’s very good of you to give me the 
chance. I’ll try to make good, sir* I can learn 
a§ well as anybody.” 


EVENING AT THE OYSTER PIER 61 

“Very well. We will see what you can do. 
Now I must be getting home, or I’ll have to account 
to Mrs. Rumford for this extra half hour.” 

The captain’s face was as stern as ever, but there 
was a twinkle in his eyes that belied the sternness. 
And the tone in which the skipper said, “ Good 
night, Bagiey,” confirmed Alec’s first impression 
that Captain Rumford had a soft heart under his 
somewhat rough exterior. 

The three oystermen went down-stairs. Captain 
Rumford locked the door and went to his auto- 
mobile, parked on the farther side of the railroad. 
Alec and Captain Bagiey turned back toward the 
pier shed. To Alec, the interview just ended 
seemed momentous. He had a job. He had a 
start in life. But little did he dream what a part 
this half hour in the oyster shipper’s office was 
destined to play in his life. 

It was still daylight, though dusk was at hand. 
“ If it’s all right,” said Alec, “ I’d like to look 
around a bit.” 

“ Look as much as you like,” said Captain Bag- 
ley. “ But you’d better turn in early. You know 
we have to be out to the oyster-beds by sunup. 
Hello! There’s Hawley now.” 

Alec waited to see what would happen. The 
big oysterman came swinging along under the pier 
shed, just sufficiently unsteady on his feet to betray 
the fact that he had been drinking again. 

“ Go aboard and get your duds,” called Captain 
Bagiey sharply, as the man came up to him. “ You 


62 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

can get what’s due you on Friday when the rest 
are paid.” 

“ What do you mean? ” 

“ You know well enough what I mean. Take 
your clothes out of my boat and don’t you set foot 
in her again.” 

The drunken oysterman leered at Captain Bag- 
ley. “ You can’t fire me. You’ve got only three 
men left and there ain’t another hand to be had.” 

“ There ain’t, eh? Well, here’s one. He did 
your work to-day, and he’s going to do it every 
day. See? Now get your things out of the 
Bertha B and be quick about it.” 

Instantly a change came over the oysterman. 
“ Take the bread from an honest man’s mouth, 
would you?” he snarled, turning upon Alec. 
“ Take his job away from him, would you? You 
young pup. I’ll fix you ! ” 

His attitude was so threatening that Alec stepped 
back in alarm. 

Captain Bagley grasped the sailor by the arm 
and spun him around. “You get your clothes and 
get out here before you get in trouble,” he said 
sternly. 

The oysterman swore viciously, but obeyed, and 
M^ent shambling down the pier to the boat. 

“ You’d better keep your weather-eye on him,” 
said the captain. “ I don’t believe he’d really try 
to hurt you, but he’s a bad actor when he gets drunk. 
So just watch him. I’ll go aboard and see that he 
behaves himself on the Bertha B.” 


EVENING AT THE OYSTEE PIEE 


63 


Alec hastened to have a look at his surroundings 
before darkness came. Although it was late in the 
day, there was still much activity on the piers, for 
this was the rush season. In the slips between 
piers were many square-ended scows, some loaded 
deep with oysters that were covered with burlap 
sacks against a sudden cold snap, while others were 
entirely emptied of their cargo, their sacks laid in 
neat piles amidships. 

Still other scows were being unloaded. Mostly 
four scow men were at work in each scow, counting 
and culling the oysters. As fast as the baskets 
were filled, they were hoisted to the piers, where 
other men emptied them into sacks and tossed the 
empty baskets back into the scows. Six baskets 
filled a sack. The sacks were sewed up as fast as 
they were filled, and trundled off on trucks to the 
waiting cars. Such rattlers and empty shells as 
had gotten in among the good oysters were thrown 
in little heaps in the centres of the scows. 

Presently Alec saw a rough looking old fellow 
sculling a flat-bottomed boat into a slip where some 
empty scows were floating. 

“ Can I have your shells, Cap’n? ” asked the boat- 
man of the shipper who stood on the pier, sewing 
up the last of his sacks. 

“ Sure,” said the shipper, and the old boatman 
began to shovel the shells from the scows into his 
own boat. 

“ Now I wonder what he wants with those 
shells,” thought Alec. Then, following his rule, 


64 


THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 


he decided to watch and see what the old fellow 
did with them. 

As there were six scows to clean, it was evident 
that it would take him some time to get all the 
shells ; so Alec walked on. He went past pier after 
pier. On most of them, men were just finishing 
their day’s work, sewing up and trundling away the 
last of their oysters. On some piers were great 
rows of barrels, such as had sheltered Alec from the 
wind on Captain Rumford’s pier. On practically 
every pier baskets were stacked up like the barrels ; 
and when Alec noticed how wet they were, he 
rightly guessed that they were left out in the wind to 
dry. On some piers seines were hung up on long 
poles that extended from rafter to rafter. Yawl 
boats, most of them equipped with gasoline engines, 
floated in the slips. And several had been stowed 
on piers. One by one the oyster craft were tying 
up at the ends of the piers, so that the river began 
to present as crowded an appearance as it had in 
the early morning. 

At the end of the pier shed was a big blacksmith 
shop, with quantities of dredges, anchors, and other 
boat equipment to be mended. 

Alec went around the end of the pier house and 
started back along the wide shipping platform. 
He was amazed to see that three lines of cars on 
three parallel tracks stood ready to receive the day’s 
yield of oysters. Little, metal markers, labeled 
Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Williamsport, New York, 
and so on, were stuck in the doors of the various 


EVENING AT THE OYSTEE PIER 


65 


cars, to help the men trucking the oysters get 
them in the proper cars. The strings of cars 
reached the full length of the oyster sheds, which 
must have been at least two hundred yards; and 
Alec saw at once that when the three strings were 
coupled in one train, there would be considerably 
more than a third of a mile of oysters going to mar- 
ket. When he remembered that he had seen an- 
other train at the oyster sheds across the river, he 
suddenly realized what an enormous industry this 
oyster business was, and what a lot of money there 
must be in it for successful oyster shippers. It 
made him more determined than ever to look into 
the situation well and see if his opportunity in life 
might not lie right here. 

As Alec walked along the shipping platform, his 
wonder grew. Here were telegraph stations, 
butcher shops, ship-chandleries, where one could buy 
almost anything needed aboard ship, and so on, 
as well as the offices of the oystermen. Overhead 
swung the signs of the different shipx)ers, and Alec 
was interested in reading them. On these signs he 
saw many of the names he had seen earlier in the 
day on the oyster-boats themselves ; and he guessed 
that many of these boats, like the Bertha B and the 
Mary and Willie, must have been named after 
members of the shippers’ families. 

By the time Alec had completed the circuit of the 
oyster sheds, and gotten back to the slip where the 
old man was collecting shells, it was almost dark. 
The shell collector was just sculling his craft out 


66 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

of the slip into the river. Alec walked to the end 
of the pier and saw that the man was pointing his 
boat ujD-stream. Deciding to follow him on land, 
Alec hurried along under the pier shed in pursuit. 

Long before this the electric lights had been 
lighted, and Alec did not realize how dark it really 
was until he had passed beyond the shed under the 
open sky. At first he could hardly see anything. 
Once he glanced back, and in the faint light from 
the pier shed made out the form of a man behind 
him. As he went on, he heard footsteps coming 
close, but thought nothing of it. He came to a 
little landing place built of a few planks, that pro- 
jected well out over the water. His eyes had now 
grown accustomed to the dark, and he cautiously 
made his way out on this landing, to look for the 
shell collector. He was surprised to hear a tread 
behind him on the landing. J ust as he turned to see 
who was coming, there was a rush of feet on the 
planks, a hoarse voice cursed him viciously, and in 
another instant powerful arms grasped him and 
flung him headlong into the swirling tide. 


CHAPTER VI 


O^TSUBOARD IN THE DARK 

D own, down, down into the chilling water went 
Alec. So confused was he that he did not 
know which way was down and which was up. He 
opened his eyes but the muddy water was inky 
black and he could see nothing. So sudden and 
unexpected had been the attack that he had not had 
time even to catch his breath before he sank beneath 
the water. Immediately he began to suffer for 
air. 

Instinctively Alec struck out, but after a few 
strokes he stopped swimming. He was recover- 
ing his wits rapidly, and he realized that it was 
worse than useless to try to swim until he knew in 
which direction he was going. He might swim 
under a scow or boat and be drowned. It was 
fortunate indeed that Alec ceased swimming when 
he did, for the tide and his own efforts were taking 
him directly under a big oyster-float. The instant 
he stopped swimming, the lifting force of the water 
shot him upward. It was high time he got his 
head above water, for his lungs seemed about to 
burst. He knew he could not hold his breath much 
longer. 

With quick wit he raised his hands above his 
head the instant he felt himself rising. And it was 

67 


68 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 


well he did so. Hardly had he lifted them before 
he crashed into one of the great timbers of the 
oyster-float. The impact almost broke his Angers ; 
and although his hands lessened the force of 
the blow, nevertheless he bumped his head so hard 
that for an instant he was dazed. His extended 
hands alone had saved him from being knocked 
senseless and drowned. For a second he lost con- 
trol of himself and swallowed some water. Sudden 
terror clutched his heart. He realized that in an- 
other moment he might drown. Wildly, franti- 
cally, he clawed at the timber above him. One hand 
met solid wood wherever it moved. But the other 
shot upward into the free air. With his last re- 
maining ounce of strength Alec dragged himself 
from under the log that formed the edge of the 
float and pulled himself up until his nose was above 
water. 

Shuddering, gasping, gulping in both air and 
water, Alec clung to the log desj)erately. Panic 
took possession of him. He tried to cry out, but 
succeeded only in swallowing more water. Wildly 
he clutched the float and tried to draw himself up on 
it; but the great round log, slippery with mud and 
slime, gave him not the slightest finger hold. 
Almost exhausted and nearly paralyzed with cold, 
he slipped back into the water. But his hands 
still rested on the log. 

Then he took a grip on himself and choked back 
the wave of fear that was chilling his heart worse 
than the cold water was numbing his muscles. He 


OVEEBOAED IN THE DAEK 


69 


let his body sink in the flood until only his nose 
and eyes were above water; and clinging to the log, 
he remained perfectly still for a moment to recruit 
his waning strength. Meantime his mind and his 
eyes were both busy. 

By this time his eyes were free from water and 
accustomed to the darkness. He could see fairly 
well. A hasty glance showed him a long line of 
floats, oyster-boats, scows, and similar craft moored 
parallel with the shore. He was in the smooth 
water between float and shore and only a few yards 
distant from solid ground. With that realization 
a wave of courage swept over Alec that seemed 
almost to warm him. For now he knew he should 
get out all right. He had only to swim the little 
distance between float and shore and he was safe. 

Boldly he struck out, and a few strokes carried 
him close to the bank. His foot touched bottom. 
He swam another stroke or two and put his feet 
down to walk ashore. Then he gave a cry of terror 
as he felt himself sinking down, down, down into 
the terrible, black, clinging mud. He tried to raise 
his foot, but only sank the deeper. Already he 
was in mud above his knees, and his nose was fright- 
fully close to the surface of the water. Through 
his head flashed the memory of the oyster stakes in 
the muddy bottom of the Bay — six feet deep in the 
mud, so Sailor Bishop had told him, and held so 
tight that they could not be pulled out. A fresh 
wave of fear swept over him. 

But he fought desperately to keep his wits. He 


70 


THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 


realized that his broad shoes would not go down 
into the mud like the sharpened ends of poles. He 
stood perfectly still to see whether or not he was 
still sinking deeper. When he realized that he was 
not, he could have shouted for joy. The tide was 
running out, and the water would not come uj) over 
his head, even if the mud did hold him prisoner for 
a time. But soon he realized that cold could kill 
him quite as effectively as water. For now that the 
fear of drowning had left him, he became conscious 
of the fact that he was shaking all over and that his 
teeth were chattering terribly. He must get out 
and get out at once. But how should he get out? 
He dared not move, lest he sink deeper into the 
mud. And there did not appear to be a soul any- 
where around. There were no lights near. It was 
supper time, and everybody had gone home for 
the night. 

Suddenly he heard the steady put-put-put of a 
motor-boat coming up the river. The sound drew 
near. 

“ Help ! Help ! Help ! ” cried Alec at the top of 
his voice. 

But the boat continued to chug steadily up- 
stream, its rhythmic put-put-put-put drowning out 
all sound of Alec’s feeble cries. Again and again 
Alec called for help, but the boat went steadily on. 
It passed the craft moored below Alec. It came 
abreast of the oyster-float. Still Alec’s cries were 
unheard. As the boat came directly opposite him, 
Alec gathered his remaining strength for a last 


OVEEBOAED IK THE DAEK 71 

effort and fairly screamed, “Help! Help! 

Help!’’ 

There was a sudden commotion on the motor- 
boat. The steersman rose to his feet and peered 
into the darkness. A second man shut off the 
engine. 

“ Hello! ” hailed a voice from the boat. “ Where 
are you? ” 

“ Back of the oyster-float near shore,” cried Alec. 
“ I’m stuck in the mud.” 

“Stand still and we’ll get you in a minute,” came 
the quick response. 

“ Put-put-put,” went the little motor-boat again, 
and in another moment it was alongside the float. 
A sailor leaped from the boat, with a coil of rope in 
his hand. He splashed his way across the float, 
calling, “ Where are you? ” 

“ Right here,” called Alec, raising his arms 
above the water and waving them in air. 

“ Catch this rope,” answered the sailor, and a 
line came whizzing straight into Alec’s upraised 
arms. 

“ I’ve got it,” said Alec. 

“ Tie it under your arms and hold fast.” 

Alec’s hands shook so that he could hardly knot 
the rope, but finally he had it fast about his chest. 
He grasped the rope at arms’ length. “All right,” 
he cried. 

“ Heave ho ! ” sang the voice on the float. “ Here 
you come, my hearty.” And the rope tightened. 

Alec pulled on the rope as hard as he could, and 


72 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

worked his feet loose. The instant he was free from 
the mud, he went skimming through the water to 
the side of the float, where strong arms lifted 
him up. 

“ You didn’t have much to go on,” said the sailor. 
“ It’s a darned good thing for you that the tide was 
running out instead of in. Who are you, and 
how’d you come to get in the water? Been drink- 
ing? ” 

“ My name’s Alec Cunningham, and I belong on 
the Bei'tha B. Somebody threw me overboard.” 
Alec’s teeth were chattering so that he couldn’t say 
another word. 

“ Drunk as a fool,” said the sailor. “ Bagley 
don’t have any hand named Cunningham. Wish I 
knowed where he belonged.” 

“ I’m not drunk,” said Alec, shivering more 
violently than before, “ and I do belong on the 
Bertha B. Just went to work this morning.” 

“ Maybe he ain’t drunk,” said the steersman on 
the boat, as they stepped aboard. “ Maybe he 
does belong on her. We’ll go see. We got to take 
him somewhere darned quick or he’ll freeze to 
death.” 

The motor-boat was headed down-stream and in 
a few minutes came alongside the Bertha B. 
‘‘ Hello, Bagley! ” called the steersman. 

“Hello!” cried the skipper on the Bertha B, 
coming out on deck. 

“ Do you know a young fellow named Cunning- 
ham? Says he belongs to your crew.” 


OYERBOAED IN THE DARK 


73 


“ Sure I do. What’s happened to him? ” 

“We got him here. Just fished him out of the 
river.” 

“ The deuce you did! Get him in here quick be- 
fore he freezes.” 

Alec was helped aboard the Bertha B, He tried 
to thank the men who had rescued him. 

“ Shut up and git in there by the fire,” shouted 
Captain Bagley. 

Alec hustled into the cabin. In all his life fire 
had never felt so good. 

“ Boys,” said Captain Bagley, “ you saved a 
darned nice kid. How’d he git in the water? ” 

“ Says somebody throwed him in. Don’t look as 
though he was drunk, though.” 

“ No. He ain’t drunk. And if he says some- 
body throwed him in, why, somebody did. I’ll find 
out about this. Good night.” Captain Bagley 
turned toward his cabin. “ The old rip! ” he mut- 
tered. “ I knowed he was a bad actor, but I never 
dreamed he’d attempt murder.” 

Then the captain was inside the cabin. “ Strip 
them clothes off, quick ! ” he called to Alec. Then 
turning to the engineer, he said, “ What you stand- 
ing there for, Joe? Git the coffee-pot on and stir 
up the fire.” 

Captain Bagley seemed equal to any emergency. 
Before you could bat an eye he had pulled the wet 
garments from Alec’s shivering form and was rub- 
bing him with a rough towel. He rubbed until 
Alec’s skin was aglow. Then he dived into his 


74 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEBATOE 

bunk and from his locker drew out a clean suit of 
heavy woolen underwear. 

“ Warm these,” he said, handing the garments to 
Joe, while he himself fell to rubbing and slapping 
Alec with his hands. 

“ Now git into them duds quick,” he ordered, as 
Joe passed Alec the underclothes, which he had 
been holding before the fire. 

As Alec pulled on the warm clothes, the captain 
said, “ Git this inside you,” and he poured out a 
cup of black coffee that was smoking hot. 

Alec downed the draught, though it almost 
burned his mouth. The captain poured another 
cup. 

“ Drink it,” he said. Again he turned to the 
engineer. “See if Dick’s got any lemons in his 
cupboard.” 

The engineer found some. “ Give ’em to me,” 
said the captain. In a second he had cut them in 
half and was squeezing out the juice. “ Put a 
quart of water over the open fire, Joe,” he said. 

Joe got the water. Captain Bagley poured the 
lemon juice into it, and added some sugar. In no 
time the mixture was steaming. 

“ Drink it,” said the captain. 

“ I’m full,” said Alec. “ I just had two cups of 
hot coffee.” 

“ Shut up and drink it,” said the captain. 

As Alec took the proffered draught and began 
to sip it, the captain roared, “Drink it!” And 
Alec downed the whole quart. 


OVEEBOAED IN THE DAEK 


76 


“ Now stand just as close to the fire as you can. 
Joe, put on more draft. Can’t you get her any 
hotter? ” 

The stove was already cherry red, but that did not 
satisfy the energetic skipper. Joe j)oked up the 
fire and Alec got as close to the stove as he could. 
Soon he began to perspire profusely. 

“ Good! ” said the oyster skipper, as he saw the 
beads of sweat gather and run down Alec’s face. 
“ Now, you young rascal, tell us how all this hap- 
pened.” 

Briefly Alec related the story of his adventure. 

“ Who done it? ” demanded Captain Bagley. 

“ I — I — I wouldn’t like to say,” said Alec, “ be- 
cause I am not absolutely certain. I’d hate to 
accuse any man of attempting to commit murder 
unless I was sure. I never really saw the man 
because it was so dark.” 

“Ain’t you got any idea who it was? ” 

“All I’ve got to go on is the voice. I could hear 
that in the dark as well as in the light.” 

“ Had you heard it before? ” 

“Yes, sir. It sounded very much like the voice 
of the man j^ou discharged.” 

“ I reckon you are right, youngster. I reckon 
you are right. I only wish you was a little more 
certain about it. He ought to go to prison. But 
I’d like to have sufficient evidence to make a case 
before I have him arrested. Maybe I can find 
somebody who seen him in that neighborhood. I’ll 
scout around a bit and see what I can pick up.” 


76 


THE YOUNG W1EELE8S OPEEATOE 


“ I wouldn’t want him imprisoned,” said Alec. 
“ He didn’t do me any harm, even if he did try to.” 

“ We don’t know yet whether he did you any 
harm or not, and anyhow, that’s got nothing to do 
with it. We can’t afford to have that sort of cattle 
running at large.” 

Captain Bagley sat down and pondered over the 
matter for some time. “How do you feel?” he 
asked suddenly. 

“ Pretty good,” said Alec, “ though my head 
aches something fierce. I reckon it’s from the 
bump I got.” 

“ Well, that settles it. You don’t ketch no 
oysters to-morrow.” 

“ What do you mean? ” asked Alec. 

“ I mean that you are not going out to the 
oyster grounds.” 

“ Indeed I am,” said Alec. “ I’d be a nice sort of 
a pill to lay off when you’re so short handed, just 
because I got a ducking.” 

“ Don’t you give me any back talk,” said the 
skipper, “ or I’ll throw you overboard again. I 
know a lot more about falling into cold water than 
you do. You may have a high fever by morning. 
And anyway, it’s going to be a darned nasty day. 
There’s a storm brewin’, and you’d more than likely 
get sick. Then I would be up against it, wouldn’t 
I, with only three hands to work two dredges. I’ve 
got to have men I can depend upon.” 

“You can depend upon me,” protested Alec. 
“ I’ll work even if I am sick. Won’t you let me 


OVERBOAED IN THE DARK 


77 


go, please? I just can’t afford to lose a day. I 
need the money so bad, sir.” 

“ What for? You got a place to sleep and 
plenty to eat. Why do you need money so bad? ” 
Alec turned his face away from the captain. 
“It’s some bills I owe at home,” he said. There 
were tears in his voice, though he kept them out of 
his eyes, and the captain forbore to question him. 

“ All right, lad,” he said, in a tone of wonderful 
tenderness, “ you shall have your day’s work. But 
you will have to do it ashore. I’ll get one of Zipp’s 
men to help me and you can help Zipp.” 

“ Who’s Zipp, and what does he do? ” 

“ Oh! That’s Frank Jordan, the foreman of the 
scow gang. Zipp’s his nickname. He handles the 
oysters after we put them on the float. Now you 
just stay by the fire and sweat, while I go to the 
office and talk to the captain.” 

Captain Bagley let himself into the office with his 
key, turned up the lights, and in a moment was 
talking to Captain Rumford over the telephone. 

Sure,” said the boss, when Captain Bagley had 
told him of Alec’s mishap and his plan for an ex- 
change of men. “ I’ll call up Zipp right away, and 
one of his men will be on hand in the morning. 
Leave the kid in the office if you get away before 
Zipp gets there. We’ll take good care of him.” 


CHAPTER VII 


A LETTER FOR ALEC 

S O it came about that when the Bertha B sailed 
for the oyster grounds next morning, Alec was 
not aboard of her. He passed a restless night in 
his bunk, and was astir the moment Dick arrived 
to start breakfast. He pulled on his clothes and 
set about helping the cook, who knew nothing 
whatever about Alec’s adventure. He raked the 
fire, put on fresh coal, filled the coffee-pot with 
water from the cask on deck, and tried to make 
himself unobtrusively helpful. His head still 
ached, and he did not feel very well. In his secret 
heart he was glad enough that the captain would 
not allow him to go out to the oyster grounds. 

When he had eaten his breakfast, Alec went 
ashore with the skipper, while the boats moored 
outside the Bertha B were casting loose. Captain 
Bagley opened the office and stirred the fire. 

‘‘ Keep it warm in here,” he said to Alec. “ You 
can set and sleep in this easy chair, or you can lay 
down on a bunk in the other room. Now take care 
of yourself.” And the captain was off. 

For a time Alec sat by the fire, thinking over 
78 


A LETTER FOR ALEO 


79 


the events of the past few days. Then he fell to 
meditating on what he ought to do with himself. 
He had never had a consuming desire to do any 
one thing in life in preference to all other tasks, as 
some boys have. Always he had cared more for 
boats and the water than for any other form of 
sport ; but it had never occurred to him that boating 
might in some sense become his life-work. Now 
the possibility seemed very real, and not at all dis- 
tasteful. But if he became an oysterman, he 
wanted to be more than merely a deck-hand. He 
wanted to climb up, to be at the top of the business 
instead of the bottom. When he remembered what 
he had been told as to the difficulties of becoming 
an oyster-planter and of the large amount of money 
required, he could see no way to achieve such an 
end. He did not see how he could ever earn and 
save enough money to buy an oyster-boat. Alec 
was a lad of good sense, however, and after specu- 
lating about the matter for a time, he suddenly said 
to himself, “ This is all foolishness. You don’t even 
know yet whether or not you want to be an oyster- 
man. If you do, the best way to succeed is to learn 
all about the business you can. So you had better 
get out and make use of your time, instead of loaf- 
ing here.” 

He left the office and went down to the pier shed. 
Practically all the oyster-boats had cast off and 
were on their way to the Bay. Alec could see their 
lights twinkling in the darkness over a long stretch 
of river. It was still too early for those who 


80 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

worked about the piers to be on hand, so Alec had 
the pier shed pretty much to himself. He walked 
and down, looking at everything that interested 
him. 

Presently the night-watchman came along, lan- 
tern in hand, and looked at him pretty sharply. 
“ Looking for somebody? ” he asked; and Alec saw 
the man was suspicious of him. 

“Just waiting for Captain Rumford or some of 
his scow men,” said Alec. “ I’m working for the 
caj)tain. Went out on the Bertha B yesterday, 
but I’m going to work here to-day.” 

The watchman seemed satisfied. “ You’re work- 
ing for a fine man,” he said. “ There ain’t none 
better than Captain Rumford.” 

Together they strolled along until they came 
to Captain Rumford’s pier. In the slip were four 
oyster scows, their bottoms littered with old shells. 
All the other scows about had been cleaned and put 
in order. 

“ The captain won’t like that,” said the watch- 
man. “ That’s twice lately that nobody got his 
shells. He’s the very deuce for having things 
orderly.” 

“ What do you mean? ” asked Alec. “ Was 
somebody supposed to take those shells away?” 
And he thought of the old man he had been follow- 
ing when he was thrown overboard. 

“ Sure. There are several fellows that collect 
’em, and the captain always gives ’em to the first 
fellow that asks for ’em, though old Pete usually 


A LETTEK FOR ALEC 


81 


gets ’em. But the captain don’t care who takes 
’em, so his scows are clean.” 

“ What does anybody want old oyster shells 
for? ” demanded Alec. “ Why, I saw an old man 
with a whole boat load of them.” 

“ They want ’em to sell, ” explained the watch- 
man. “ Guess you don’t know much about the 
oyster business yet.” 

“ Don’t know a thing,” said Alec. “ Never saw 
an oyster-boat before yesterday. I can’t imagine 
how anybody could sell all the shells that old fellow 
had in his boat.” 

“A fellow could sell a million bushels of ’em if 
he had ’em,” said the watchman. “ You know the 
oyster-planters put these shells back in the oyster- 
beds in spring. They buy ’em back from these 
fellows at five cents a bushel.” 

“ What! ” exclaimed Alec. “ The planters sow 
oyster shells in their beds! Surely you can’t grow 
little oysters from old shells! ” 

The watchman laughed heartily at Alec. “ Of 
course you can’t grow little oysters from old shells. 
But you can grow ’em on old shells.” 

‘‘ I don’t understand.” 

“ Why, the little oysters — spats we calls ’em — 
just floats about in the water after they are born, 
and if they didn’t have anything to fasten to, they’d 
all die and be lost. There ain’t nothin’ they can 
fasten to on the mud bottoms, so the oystermen puts 
down old shells and the spats makes fast to ’em.” 

‘‘ Well, I never! ” exclaimed Alec. “ There’s a 


82 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

whole lot more to oystering than I ever dreamed. I 
reckon what you say accounts for the way oysters 
grow in clusters. We dredged up lots of clusters 
of oysters with four or five oysters stuck together. 
And now that I think of it, I remember that there 
were usually one or two old shells in each cluster.” 

“ I reckon Captain Rumford will be right mad 
when he sees them shells in the scows,” said the 
watchman. “ I heard him giving Pete — that’s the 
old fellow you spoke of — the deuce only last week 
for not getting the scows clean on time. You see, 
it’s the rush season. Help is short, and it’s all the 
captain can do to keep up with his orders. Now 
these scows will have to be cleaned before any more 
oysters can be fetched.” 

“ Then I’ll clean them,” said Alec, and getting 
some baskets, he dropped into the nearest scow. 
The watchman moved on about his work. 

In no time Alec had the scow clean and her 
burlap sacks piled neatly in the centre. He hoisted 
his baskets of shells to the pier and tackled the 
next scow. 

Captain Rumford was on hand before any of his 
men came. “ Who put those shells there? ” he de- 
manded, noticing the baskets Alec had placed along 
the edge of the pier. 

“ I did, sir,” said Alec, somewhat fearfully. 

“ You did! Where did you get them, and what 
did you do it for? ” 

“ I got them out of the scows, sir. They hadn’t 
been cleaned.” 


A LETTEE FOE ALEC 


83 


The deuce they hadn’t. That’s twice Pete has 
left my scows full of shells within two weeks. We’ve 
got to have some better method of getting rid of 
old shells. Can’t stand this. Busy as all fiddle- 
sticks and our scows full of shells when we come 
to work. 

“ Say, boy,” said Captain Rumford after a 
moment’s pause, “ who told you to clean out those 
scows? ” 

“ Nobody, sir. I thought it would help along 
with the day’s work and I did it. I didn’t know 
what else to do with them, so I put them in the 
baskets I found here.” 

“ You’ve got some sense, lad. Keep on that 
way and you’ll be an oyster shipper before you 
can vote.” 

Zipp and his two scow men soon arrived. The 
captain lent Alec his boots, which were far too 
large for Alec, and one of the scow men gave him 
a reefing-jacket. A motor-boat lay in the slip. 
Zipp started the engine, while the other men made 
fast the scows, and soon the little party was chug- 
ging off to an oyster-float. The four scow men sat 
in the motor-boat and the scows were towed behind. 
With great oyster-forks, somewhat like enlarged 
spading forks, the gang shoveled the oysters from 
the float into the scows. It was hard work, for 
the forks were large and the oysters heavy. When 
the oysters were all taken up, the scows were towed 
back to the shipping pier and made fast in the slip 
again. Then the counting began. 


84 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

Zipp showed Alec how to count his oysters, two 
at a cast. The four counters dropped to their 
knees and began work. But Alec paused for a 
moment to watch his companions. He saw that 
Zipp could count oysters faster than either of the 
two other scow men, just as Sailor Bishop could 
cull them faster than either Joe or Dick. Alec 
watched Zipp closely, to see how he worked. Then 
he set himself to the task of learning how to count 
fast. He still had the finger-stalls he had worn 
the day before and the sharp shells did not hurt his 
fingers in the least. In a little while he was making 
the oysters fairly fly. 

Basket after basket, the oysters were shoved up 
on the pier, where other workers emptied them into 
sacks. Captain Rumford himself sewed the sacks 
up and kept a watchful eye on things. In no time, 
there was a long row of sacks standing ready for 
shipment. 

“ Just keep track of the number of baskets that 
lad hands up,” whispered the shipper to an assist- 
ant. “ We’ll time him for an hour.” Thus Alec 
underwent another test, though he was altogether 
in ignorance of the fact that his work was being 
watched. 

At every pier men were counting oysters, while 
other men filled the sacks and trundled them off to 
the waiting freight-cars. The place was as busy 
as a beehive, yet there was no noise or confusion. 
No swearing, no loud talk, disturbed the general 
quiet. Only the rumble of the trucks, as men 


A LETTEE FOE ALEC 


86 


trundled the sacked oysters over the plank floor, 
rose above the subdued hum. 

“ Hour’s up! ” said Captain Rumford, glancing 
at his watch, after a time. ‘‘ How many baskets 
did the kid count? ” 

“ Seventy-seven.” 

“ The deuce he did! Why, that’s ten thousand 
oysters. Of course Zipp’s crew average about 
11,000 an hour, but they’re the best crew here. 
The average counter won’t handle more than 8,000 
to 9,000 an hour. The kid’s quick.” 

Presently the skipper got his shipping tags and 
tied them on the sacks. Then a man with a truck 
began to wheel the sacks away to the cars. 

Dinner time came. All hands went up to the 
office to eat their lunches, about the warm stove. 

“ Here,” said Zipp, seeing that Alec had nothing 
to eat, “ have a sandwich.” 

“ No. Thanks,” said Alec, rather diffidently. 
“ I am not very hungry.” But his eyes belied his 
tongue. 

“ That won’t do at all,” said the skipper. ‘‘ Take 
this and run over to the hotel and get a good square 
meal.” 

Alec protested. The oyster shipper shoved a 
dollar into his hand. 

“ Now run along, quick,” he said, “ for we’ve got 
to get right back to work as soon as we can. And 
none of us can work without food.” 

Alec was glad enough when Captain Rumford 
insisted, and taking the money, he hurried away to 


86 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

get his dinner. The long table fairly groaned 
under the array of good things, and every diner 
was free to eat as much as he liked. For the first 
time in his life, Alec ate oyster potpie; and wished 
he could hold more. His dinner cost him seventy- 
five cents, and Alec began to understand how for- 
tunate he was to be eating aboard the Bertha B, 
Even if his pay should prove to be small, he could 
still save something, and he needed money desper- 
ately. 

Alec intended to give back to Captain Rumford 
the twenty-five cents left from his dollar. But the 
men were already in the scows when he got back 
and Captain Rumford was up in his office. Alec 
went to work, and forgot about the quarter. 

All the afternoon Alec worked as fast as he could 
make his fingers fly. He was working alongside 
of Zipp, one of the most expert oyster counters at 
Bivalve; and it provoked Alec that he could not 
hand up the baskets as fast as his fellow. But 
try as he would, he could not fill the basket as 
rapidly as Zipp did. The oysters were all counted 
and sacked before the Bertha B came chugging up 
to her pier. Alec went aboard her as soon as she 
made fast, and the cook considerately gave him his 
supper. 

Then Dick went off to buy supplies for the next 
day. Alec asked if he might go along. They got 
a roast of meat, some sausage, canned beans, butter, 
bread, condensed milk, and other articles. 

Captain Bagley, meantime^ had gone to the office 


A LETTER FOR ALEC 


87 


to make his daily report to Captain Rmnford. 
That done, he started for a store to buy a cigar, 
when the postmaster hailed him. “ Say, Cap’n,” 
he said, “ you don’t know anything about a party 
named Cunningham, do you? IVe got a letter ad- 
dressed to an Alec Cunningham, care of Thomas 
Robinson. You and Robinson used to be such pals 
I thought you might know something about it.” 

“ You’ve come to just the right place. That’s 
Robinson’s nephew. He’s a member of my crew 
now. I’ll just get that letter and give it to the 
kid.” 

When Captain Bagley returned to the Bertha B 
Alec was sitting alone in the cabin. 

“ Here’s a letter for you, Alec,” said the skipper. 

Alec tore the letter open and ran his eye over it. 
Tears came into his eyes, and he bowed his head 
on his chest. 

“ What’s wrong, lad? ” asked the skipper, kindly. 

Alec could not trust himself to reply. He 
merely thrust the letter into the skipper’s hand. 

Captain Bagley read the communication and 
frowned. ‘‘ He’s pretty much of a skunk,” he said. 

The letter was an imperative demand for the bal- 
ance due on the tombstone Alec had ordered for his 
father. Unless this were first received, the letter 
said, the stone would not be set up. 

“ I judge you paid him something? ” said the 
captain questioningly. 

“ Paid him half the price. It took every cent I 
had. That’s why I landed here without a penny. 


88 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

And that’s why I need money so bad. Oh! I 
must get it somehow. I must ! I must ! ” 

“ Now, don’t you worry about this,” said the 
kindly oysterman. “We can fix it up for you 
somehow.” 

But Alec refused to be comforted. 


CHAPTER VIII 


alec’s first lesson in oyster-culture 

M orning found Alec refreshed in body, but 
not entirely relieved in mind. He had loved 
his father dearly, and the thought that his father’s 
body lay out in the cold, bleak cemetery without 
even a headstone to mark his resting-place, troubled 
Alec sorely. The very least he could do in memory 
of his father, it seemed to Alec, was to erect a 
marker above the grave. 

To do this, he had gotten together all the money 
he could, and given it to a Central City monument 
dealer with the understanding that the latter was 
to set up the stone Alec selected and Alec was to 
pay the balance due on the stone as soon as he found 
work and could earn the money. But like many 
another man, this one had taken advantage of youth. 
He had pocketed the money without carrying out 
his part of the bargain. That was bad enough. 
But Alec now felt no certainty that the stone would 
be erected after he had paid for it in full; and that 
was worse still. So it was a very much troubled 
and worried lad that tumbled out of Alec’s bunk 
when Dick arrived to start breakfast. 

It was fortunate for Alec that he possessed such 
89 


90 I'HE YOUNG WIEELESS OUERATOE 

a helpful disposition. He found a number of 
things to do for the cook. He stirred up the fire, 
got water for the coffee, punched holes in the con- 
densed milk can, cut the bread, and made himself 
generally useful; and in work he found relief from 
his troubles. He could not keep his mind on his 
work and his troubles at the same time ; and he had 
to keep it on his work. 

And when breakfast was over and he had dried 
the dishes, there were so many things he wanted to 
ask the captain about. All that he had learned 
about oyster-culture was so interesting it made him 
want to learn more. And by this time he realized 
that there was much, much more to know. 

“ Captain Bagley,” said Alec, when the Bertha B 
was fairly under way, “ the pier watchman was 
telling me that the oystermen spread old shells over 
their oyster-beds for the young oysters to attach 
themselves to. How can oysters move about in the 
water? I should think their shells would keep them 
on the bottom, even though they are very small. 
Why, a grain of sand can’t float, and see how much 
smaller that is than an oyster.” 

“ Yes. It’s smaller than a grown oyster, but 
many times as large as a brand-new oyster. And 
besides, oysters just born don’t have any shells.” 

Alec looked sharply at the captain, but could not 
detect the faintest twinkle in his eye. “ Honest? ” 
he asked. “ You’re not stringing me? ” 

“ Not a bit of it, son. Why, a new-born oyster 
is so small you can’t even see it.” 


ALEC’S FIEST LESSON IN OYSTER-CULTUEE 91 

“ Now I know you’re teasing me.” 

“ Indeed, I am not. You have to have a micro- 
scope to see an oyster that has just been born. They 
have to be very small, for a single oyster gives birth 
to millions of little ones. These don’t have no shells 
at all. And then the tide sweeps ’em in and out, so 
I reckon they get scattered pretty much everywhere 
in the neighborhood of the oyster-beds.” 

“ But how do they grow fast to old shells and 
other oysters if they have no shells themselves? ” 

“ Oh! They get shells quick enough. And as 
soon as they do, they sink to the bottom and fasten 
themselves to the first clean rock or shell they come 
to. If they don’t hit a rock or shell, they sink in 
the mud and die. Of course, there ain’t no rocks 
on our mud bottom, and that’s why we have to put 
shells on the beds. And we no sooner get the bed 
covered with shells than we have to scrub ’em, to 
get the mud off of ’em.” 

“ Scrub them! ” exclaimed Alec. “ What do you 
mean? ” 

‘‘ Can’t you understand English? I mean just 
what I say — scrub ’em, to get the dirt off.” 

Alec still looked incredulous. ‘‘How?” he 
demanded. 

“ Oh! We drag the dredges over the beds with- 
out any bags on. It scours ’em off pretty well. 
They are pretty clean before we get through.” 

“ But is it really necessary? Did anybody ever 
see a tiny oyster make fast to an old shell? ” 

“ I don’t know, son. But I know this: We have 


92 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

to make sure our shells is clean. We wait till the 
oysters is about ready to tie up to something and 
then we scrub the shells.” 

“ My gracious ! If there are so many little 
oysters and you put down so many shells to catch 
them, I should think there would be more oysters 
than you would know what to do with.” 

“ Does seem that way, don’t it? Fact is, though, 
that mighty few of them little ones ever gits to be 
oysters.” 

“ Why not? ” 

“ I reckon it’s largely on account of what doctors 
would call ‘ infant mortality.’ All sorts of things 
eats ’em. Mussels, and clams, and barnacles, and 
old oysters, and turtles, and worms, and sea-squirts, 
and drills, all eat oysters at some time or other. 
Down east the starfish plays hob with the oyster- 
beds. We don’t have many of them things here, 
and I’m glad of it. If we did, I don’t know how 
we’d ever raise any oysters. Why, even as it is, 
^ve don’t get more than one oyster out of every 
six we plant.” 

‘‘ How do you know? ” 

‘‘ Why, we know how many bushels we plant and 
how many we ketch when they’re old enough to be 
dredged. We plant about 500 bushels to an acre 
and we’d like to plant a thousand if we could get 
’em. They’re about the size of your thumb nail 
and there’s about 700 to 900 seed-oysters in a 
bushel. By the time we dredge ’em we won’t get 
more’n a basket for every bushel we planted. How 


ALEC'S FIRST LESSON IN OYSTER-CULTURE 93 


many’s that? You ought to know. You counted 
oysters all day yesterday.” 

“A basket contains 68 casts,” said Alec proudly, 
“ and that’s 136 oysters.” 

“ Correct. And if you multiply that number by 
six, you’ll have just about the number of seed- 
oysters in a bushel.” 

“ If the loss is so great, I should think you would 
plant the full thousand bushels per acre instead of 
five hundred.” 

“ We would if we could get ’em, son. But you 
know we get our seed-oysters out of the natural 
beds, and we can’t dredge there except in May and 
June, between sunrise and sunset each day. We 
get all we can, of course. And then we buy some 
from the bushelmen.” 

“ What are they? ” 

“ Oh! Fellows that have small boats but no beds. 
They dredge what they can get and sell the seed 
to planters.” 

“ They’re something like the stake stickers.” 

“ Most of ’em are stake stickers. They ketch 
seed-oysters in spring and stick stakes in fall.” 

“ I should think they’d get enough money to have 
their own oyster-beds after a time.” 

‘‘ Some of ’em do, but there ain’t much money 
in oysters unless you have a good equipment. 
Why, a first-class oyster-boat, with up-to-date 
engine and machinery, is worth fourteen or fifteen 
thousand dollars. And then there’s your scows and 
floats and motor-boats, and a lot of other things. 


94 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOR 


Why, a pair of dredges alone is worth $150. And 
then after you do get a bed and plant it, you’ve got 
to wait three years before your oysters is big enough 
to ketch. Why, a fellow’s got to have nearly 
enough money to retire on before he can make a 
start in the oyster business,” 

Alec looked very sober. “ I believe there isn’t 
any use of a fellow like me trying to become an 
oyster-planter,” he thought. “ I couldn’t earn and 
save fifteen thousand dollars — ever.” 

“ Think you’d like to be an oysterman? ” asked 
Captain Bagley, looking searchingly at Alec. 

“ I don’t know,” said Alec. “ I’ve got to do 
something, and I think I like oystering as much 
as anything I ever saw. But I want to get to the 
top if I become one.” 

“ Well, the best way to get to the top is to start 
at the bottom — and work. The oyster shippers are 
always on the watch for bright young fellows that 
know the business and ain’t afraid of work. Many 
a fellow has worked himself up to a partnership 
in an oyster firm that started just where you are — 
at the bottom.” 

By this time the Bertha B was nearing the oyster 
grounds. Alec got into the captain’s oilskins again 
and was in his place on deck when the captain gave 
the word to let go the dredges. 

This time Alec needed no instructions. He took 
hold like an old-timer. He was working with 
Sailor Bishop again, and once more he set himself 
to try to learn his companion’s trick of culling 


ALECKS FIEST LESSON IN OYSTEE-CULTUEE 95 


oysters fast. He grew more and more expert as the 
hours passed, and was soon able to keep pace with 
Joe and Dick, neither of whom was very quick; 
but to save him, Alec could not fill his baskets as 
fast as Bishop filled his. One reason for Bishop’s 
speed, Alec found, lay in the sailor’s huge hands. 
His fingers were the longest Alec had ever seen. 
The sailor often picked up three or four oysters at 
a time. And long practice had made him so expert 
that he could often detect a rattler without having 
to tap it with his hammer. 

In a little while the novelty of the work wore 
off, but still Alec found plenty to interest him. 
His work in biology had given him a keen interest 
in all forms of life. The marine life about him was 
new, and Alec found continual delight in the con- 
tents of the dredges. Now a crab was brought up. 
Again some curious fish like a “ toady,” as ugly and 
venomous in appearance as Shakespeare’s land 
toad, came flopping on the deck ; but apparently it 
had no redeeming jewel in its head, for the sailors 
treated it with supreme contempt. Sometimes a 
king-crab was caught in the dredge — a curious, 
brown, horseshoe-shaped creature, with a long, 
straight tail of shell. And often there came tum- 
bling aboard oyster drills, which looked like tiny 
conchs. There were quantities of sponge-like plant 
growths and red moss, like scarlet seaweed. And 
once there was real excitement as a huge turtle came 
flopping aboard. It must have been two feet in 
diameter, with clusters of barnacles on its shell as 


96 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 


big as one’s fist, and a terrible beak that could take 
a finger off at a single snap. 

“ Now we’ll have some turtle soup,” said Sailor 
Bishop, as he turned the creature on its back and 
shoved it out of the way. 

Before Alec knew it, the day’s work was done, 
and the Bertha B was on her homeward way. In 
an old dead tree that stood by itself in the salt 
meadow Alec saw what looked like a mass of drift- 
wood; but the captain said it was an osprey’s nest. 
Alec studied the distant nest through a telescope the 
captain lent him. It was a huge thing, three or 
four feet in diameter, made of old sticks. Later 
still Alec saw an osprey soaring not far astern of 
the Bertha B, Even as he watched it, the huge 
bird suddenly tilted downward and fell like a plum- 
met into the water. A moment later it rose from 
the waves, with a glistening fish in its talons. On 
every hand there seemed to be new and interesting 
things to see. 

The next day Alec had his first touch of seasick- 
ness. The wind was blowing half a gale when the 
Bertha B reached the oyster grounds, and the little 
boat jumped about in a way that at first alarmed 
Alec considerably. But when he saw that the sail- 
ors regarded the movement of the ship as a matter 
of course, he forgot his fear. Soon he forgot al- 
most everything else; for his head began to ache, 
and a feeling of nausea came over him. He had 
never felt worse in his life. He thought he was 
going to die but did not seem to care. 


ALEC'S FIEST LESSON IN OYSTEE-CULTUEE 97 

“ What’s the matter? ” asked Sailor Bishop. 
“ Getting sick? You look pretty pale.” 

“ I won’t get sick if I can help it,” said Alec to 
himself. “ I’m going to fight this thing off.” 

His head seemed to be in a whirl, and he was 
afraid to try to stand up, lest he be pitched over- 
board. So he knelt on the deck, braced himself 
against the movement of the ship, and kept work- 
ing. Whenever he could, he straightened up and 
drew in a deep breath of the fresh, crisp air. The 
air made him feel better. He tried to think about 
his work and not about himself. And after a time 
he felt noticeably better. Before the day was past 
the feeling of nausea had left him entirely, and 
never thereafter did he suffer from seasickness. 

Being a Friday, it was pay-day, though Alec did 
not know it. When the Bertha B again lay at 
her pier at the end of the day, the crew did not 
hurry ashore as they had done every other day, 
though the captain left the boat the instant she was 
fast. Presently he returned with a roll of bills in 
his hand. He counted out each man’s pay and 
handed the money around. Then the sailors left 
fast enough. When they were gone, the captain 
turned to Alec. 

“ How much do you think I ought to pay you? ” 
he asked. 

“ I don’t know,” said Alec. ‘‘ I didn’t make any 
bargain with you. I don’t know what I ought to 
get” 

“ I’m going to give you ten dollai’S,” said the 


98 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

captain. “ You worked only four days. Next 
week, if you put in a full week. I’ll give you more. 
The deck-hands on this boat get $17.50 a week, but 
I gave them $20 this week because they did a 
mighty good week’s work. You’ll get just as much 
as you make yourself worth. Captain Rumford 
Xiays his men well. If you keep on as good as 
you’ve begun, you’ll soon be getting as much as 
any of the other hands.” 

“ Thank you,” Alec replied. “ I’ll try. Oh! 
I’ll do my best, for I need the money so badly. 
It’s going to take me a good many weeks to earn 
all I need.” And he went over to the stove and 
sat down on a chair, bowing his head in his hands. 

“ I wish that Hawley would come get this,” 
muttered Captain Bagley to himself, as he counted 
out the money that was due the discharged sailor 
and laid it in his own bunk. 

His own money he made into a little roll, in- 
cluding with the greenbacks a check that had come 
to him by mail. Then he put a little rubber band 
around the roll. After a second’s hesitation he 
wrapped Hawley’s money about his own, added an- 
other rubber band, and dropping the roll in his 
bunk, started to change from his working garb to 
his street clothes. 

“ The deuce! ” he said suddenly. “ I forgot to 
ask Captain Rumford about them dredges. I hope 
he ain’t started for home yet.” 

Captain Bagley darted out of the cabin like a 
streak of lightning, and ran across the pier to the 


ALEC'S FIRST LESSON IN OYSTER-CULTURE 99 


office. Zipp was there and he told Captain Bagley 
that Captain Rumford had just left. Captain 
Bagley could catch him before he got to his auto- 
mobile. The lithe skipper flew down the stairs and 
raced up the shipping platform. He overtook the 
shipper, and a long conversation followed. On his 
way back to his boat. Captain Bagley was called 
into a ship-chandler’s, and a full half hour elapsed 
before he got back. To his surprise there was not 
a soul aboard. Alec had disappeared. The money 
the captain had left in his bunk was also gone. 


CHAPTER IX 


UNDER A CLOUD 

F or a moment the captain stared blankly into 
his bunk. Then, “ The little rip ! ” he cried. 
“ I never would have believed it of him. Seemed 
such a nice, clean kid, too.’' 

Energetic in all things, the captain began to fire 
up. His anger mounted. If he could have laid 
his hands on Alec just then, he probably would 
first have trounced him roundly and explained 
afterward. But not having Alec to chastise, he 
began to swear at him. Presently the captain 
cooled off, as he always did, and his better nature 
came to the top. 

“ Poor kid,” he muttered. “ He was just wor- 
ried sick about his dad’s tombstone. He wouldn’t 
do such a thing under ordinary circumstances. 
Don’t be too hard on him, Bagley. And remember, 
he’s your old pal’s nephew.” 

Before long the captain decided he would say 
nothing about the matter and pocket his loss. Then 
that same sense of loyalty to his friends made him 
decide that he ought to tell Captain Rumford. It 
would never do for the shipper to have a thief 
100 


UNDER A CLOUD 


101 


around without knowing it. Of course Alec 
wouldn’t be around, Captain Bagiey realized, for 
he would discharge him the instant he set eyes on 
him. 

“ I’ll tell the captain right away,” he said to him- 
self. “ He’ll be home by this time.” 

Captain Bagiey hurried to the office and let him- 
self in with his key. He got the shipper on the 
telephone almost immediately. Despite his fiery 
nature. Captain Bagiey possessed great discretion. 
“ Cap’n Rumford,” he said, “ there’s been some 
crooked work going on down here. I don’t want to 
talk about it over the ’phone, but I’d like to tell you 
about it.” 

“ I’ll be right down,” telephoned the shipper. 
“ I’m almost through supper, and you can look for 
me as soon as I can get there.” 

Captain Bagiey sat down to wait for the shipper. 
The latter lived in a village only a few miles distant, 
and his motor-car carried him back to the office in 
no time. 

“ What’s wrong, Bagiey? ” he said anxiously, as 
he came into the office. 

“ Nothing to worry about, Cap’n, but something 
that’ll disappoint you. I notice that you took a 
great fancy to the new hand.” 

‘‘ Yes. He’s a fine lad. He’s going to make a 
good man.” 

“ Well, I am sorry to tell you he’s skipped with 
my week’s pay and the money that was due Haw- 
ley.” 


102 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOB 

Captain Rumford’s face turned black as a 
thunder-cloud. “ Have you any notion where he 
skipped to? We must catch him, even if it costs 
more than he took. I try to treat my men right, 
but I’ll be hanged if I’ll let anybody rob me.” The 
shipper was now as angry as his oyster captain had 
been a little while previously. 

“ I haven’t any idea where he went.” 

“ How did it happen? How did he get hold of 
your roll? ” 

“ Why, him and me was the only two aboard the 
Bertha B, and I laid my money in my bunk while 
I was changing my clothes. Then I happened to 
think about them dredges, and I bolted out to ketch 
you, without a thought about the money being there. 
When I got back both the kid and the money was 
gone.” 

“ Looks like a plain enough case,” said the 
shipper. “ Do you know of any reason why he 
should steal? He looked as honest as sunlight.” 

“ Yes. There was a very particular reason. 
He’s been worrying about money ever since he got 
here. Showed me a letter he got about his father’s 
tombstone. Seems he paid a marble man to put a 
stone on his father’s grave. Gave him every cent 
he had, but that was only half the price. The man 
agreed to put the stone up and wait for the balance 
of his money until the lad could earn it. But he 
played the kid dirt. Wrote him he wouldn’t put 
no stone up until he had every cent. The kid seems 
to have thought everything of his dad, and it wor- 


UNDER A CLOUD 


103 


ried him sick. The last thing I heard him say was 
that it would take him an awful long time to get 
that money earned.” 

“ It’s a plain case, I guess. That explains why 
he didn’t give me my quarter,” and the shipper told 
Captain Bagley of his giving Alec a dollar to get a 
meal and of Alec’s failure to return the change. 

“ What are you going to do about it, Cap’n? ” 
inquired Skipper Bagley. “ It ain’t fair not 
to ” 

At that instant a footstep was heard on the stairs. 
The door opened, and in walked Alec. 

“ So you thought better of it, did you? ” said 
Captain Bagley. 

Alec looked puzzled. “ Thought better of 
what?” he asked. 

“ Now don’t try any bluffs on us,” said the 
shipper tartly. “ Be honest and admit you stole 
the money and we may overlook it. We under- 
stand that you were in trouble and needed the 
money badly.” 

Alec was almost dumb with astonishment. 
“ Admit that I stole the money ! ” he cried. “ I 
don’t understand what you are talking about. I 
never stole a cent from anybody.” 

“ Come, come! ” said Captain Rumford sharply. 
“ Don’t make the matter worse by lying about it.” 

Alec’s eyes blazed. “ See here,” he said angrily. 
“ I don’t care if you are the biggest oyster shipper 
in Bivalve. You shall not call me a liar. I didn’t 
take your money or anybody else’s. You’ve got to 


104 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

take that back. I won’t stand it. I’m not a thief 
and I’m not a liar.” 

Captain Rumford sat sharp up in his chair and 
fastened his keenest glance on Alec’s face. His 
look seemed to bore right through the lad. But 
Alec never flinched. He looked straight into the 
captain’s eyes until the shipper shifted his gaze 
to Bagley. 

“ Cap’n,” said the oyster shipper, “ if that lad’s 
a liar, he’s the nerviest one I ever met with. He’s 
the first man that ever lied to me and looked me 
square in the eye afterward.” 

“ See here,” said Alec, trembling with anger. 
“ I demand an explanation. I tell you I am neither 
a liar nor a thief; and you have no right to call me 
one.” 

“ Well, that’s a simple matter,” said the shipper. 
“ Captain Bagley left you alone in the cabin of his 
boat with his pay-roll, or what was left of it. When 
he came back, you had gone and the cash had dis- 
appeared. The captain says you had very great 
need of money and were worrying about how you 
could get it, when he left the boat. Have you any 
explanation to make? ” 

“ I can explain everything,” said Alec. “ It’s 
true I need money. Oh, sir, you don’t know how 
badly I need it! My father did everything in the 
world for me, sir, and it will take me weeks and 
weeks to earn even a little tombstone to mark his 
grave with.” 

Alec paused to try to get command of his voice. 


UNDER A CLOUD 


105 


Tears were streaming down his cheeks. “ I loved 
my father with all my heart/’ he continued. “ Do 
you think I would disgrace him by being dishonest? 
He always taught me to be honest and honorable 
above all things, sir. Do you think I would do the 
one thing that would hurt my father if he were 
alive? ” 

Once more Alec wiped his eyes as he paused. 
Then, choking back a sob, he continued: “ I did not 
take the money, sir. I never knew until this minute 
that it was in the captain’s bunk. I was so trou- 
bled I couldn’t think of anything but how long it 
was going to take me to earn that gravestone. When 
Captain Bagley ran out, he startled me. I remem- 
bered I owed you a dollar, and I came straight 
here to pay you, sir. I meant to give you your 
change the other day, but you were in the office here 
when I got back from the hotel and I had to get 
right to work. Then I forgot it until after you 
went home. Here is the dollar now, sir, and I’m 
much obliged to you for the loan.” 

‘‘ Was anybody here when you came to pay me 
the dollar? ” asked the shipper, again eyeing Alec 
sharply. 

“ Yes, sir. Zipp was here.” 

“ Did you say anything to him? ” 

“ Yes, sir. I asked for you, and he said you had 
just left and that Captain Bagley had run after 
you. I didn’t want to interrupt any talk between 
you and Captain Bagley, so I did not try to over- 
take you, sir.” 


106 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 

The oyster shipper turned in his seat and picked 
up his telephone. “ 345 R,” he said to the operator. 

A moment later he said, “That you, Zipp?” 
Then, after a pause, “ Did the new deck-hand, Alec 
Cunningham, come to the office after I left? ” 
Again there was a pause. “ He did, eh? Did he 
say anything to you? ” 

Alec held his breath while Zipp answered. 
“ Asked for me, did he? ” repeated the captain. 
“And you told him I had gone and Captain Bagley 
had run after me.” 

The shipper hung up his receiver and turned to 
Alec. “ Well, that story is straight enough. 
Where have you been the rest of the time? And 
what did you do? ” 

“ I walked up the shipping platform and looked 
into several cars that were being loaded. Then I 
went to the post-office and asked if there was a 
letter for me and got a stamped envelope and a 
money-order for $8.75 to send to that tombstone 
man. Then I started back to the Bertha B. I 
saw the office door was still open, when I passed, 
and I came up to see if I could get an old envelope 
or a piece of paper to write on. Here’s the 
envelope and the money-order, sir.” 

“ Very good,” said the shipper. “ But still you 
have not offered any proof that you didn’t take the 
money. If you didn’t take it, who did? You were 
the only person in the boat after Captain Bagley 
came ashore. How can you get around that? ” 

“And you have no proof that I did,” replied 


UNDEE A CLOUD 


107 


Alec, his indignation rising again. “ You don’t even 
try to be fair. The Bertha B was at her pier for 
more than half an hour without a soul on watch. A 
dozen men might have gone into her cabin in that 
time. You’ve got to prove that nobody was 
aboard of her before you’ve any right to accuse me 
of stealing the money.” 

“ Don’t tell me what I’ve a right to do,” said 
the shipper, a little nettled. “ Leave the room 
and don’t say a word about this to anybody.” 


CHAPTER X 


alec’s decision 

B itter, indeed, were Alec’s thoughts as he 
stumbled down the office stairs. Blinding 
tears stood in his eyes. His heart seemed dead 
within him. He felt sick all over — sick and indig- 
nant. Ever since he was a tiny child his father had 
taught him that his honor and his good name were 
to be treasured above all things. Never before had 
anybody even suspected him of dishonesty. Now 
he was worse than suspected. He was both accused 
and practically condemned. For it was perfectly 
evident to Alec that the oyster shipper still doubted 
him. 

As Alec turned the situation over in his mind, 
his indignation grew fiercer and fiercer. He told 
himself that Captain Bagley had no right to leave 
the money in the ship’s cabin, as he did; and Alec 
was right. He told himself that Captain Bagley 
should have told him to guard the money, when he 
rushed off after the shipper; and again Alec was 
right. 

‘‘ I was free to come and go,” said Alec to him- 
self, “ and Captain Bagley had no right to assume 
that I would stay on the Bertha B all the time, 
108 


ALEC’S DECISION 


109 


when there is so much that is interesting to see and 
learn. Why, anybody can walk into any of these 
boats at any time, and Captain Bagley knows that 
as well as I do. And if somebody dishonest came 
aboard and nobody was in the cabin and some 
money was lying loose, what could the captain 
expect? It wasn’t fair for him to do what he did. 
It wasn’t fair. He never said a word to me about 
his money and now he holds me responsible for its 
loss. It isn’t fair! It isn’t fair! ” 

In deep distress Alec walked up and do^vn under 
the pier shed. He saw nothing, heard nothing, felt 
nothing, but his own distress. 

“And I was trying so hard to be helpful and to 
show my appreciation of Captain Bagiey’s kind- 
ness,” said Alec to himself. “ Kindness ! Bah ! 
Let him keep his kindness for others. What I want 
is justice. I’ll leave him and his old boat and 
go where people will treat me fair. That’s all the 
kindness I want — just a square deal.” 

In his bitterness Alec was himself unjust. With 
the inexperience of youth, he reasoned that because 
he had been questioned as to his honesty he had 
necessarily been condemned. He failed to see that 
his employers owed it to him as well as to themselves 
and all the other oystermen to find out who was the 
thief. Necessarily they had to question Alec first, 
for circumstances certainly did point to him. 

The more he brooded over the matter, the more 
indignant he felt. “ I won’t stay here another 
minute,” he said. “ I won’t have anything to do 


110 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

with men who have so little fairness.” And he 
headed for the Bertha B to get his valise and the 
few poor possessions in it. But half-way down 
the pier he stopped abruptly. A new idea popped 
into his head. “ If you go aboard the Bertha B 
and take your things, and anything else should dis- 
appear, they’ll say you stole the thing and ran 
away.” 

He pondered over the situation. “ Run away ! ” 
he muttered. “ That’s just what you were about 
to do. An honest man doesn’t run away when he’s 
under fire. He stays and fights. Why, if I had 
run away, they’d never have doubted that I was 
the thief. Gee! I’m glad I thought in time.” 
And Alec fairly shivered at the thought of what 
would have happened had he foolishly gone away. 

“ I’ll fight,” he muttered. “ That’s what I’ll do. 
I’ll show them I’m as honest and square and smart 
and able as any man that ever walked th^se planks. 
That’s what I’ll do. I’ll be an oysterman, too. 
That’s settled. I’ll be a planter and shipper, too. 
I’ll be just as big a man at Bivalve as Captain Rum- 
ford or anybody else. I’ll show them what Alec 
Cunningham’s got in him. I’ll work and work 
and work and study and study and save my money, 
and some day I’ll have the finest oyster-boat that 
sails out of this port. And I’ll call her Old Hon- 
esty, too. And she won’t be any old-fashioned 
sailing boat done over. She’ll be an up-to-date 
oyster-boat, scientifically made. Captain Rumford 
will have to scrap his whole fleet when my new boat 


ALEC’S DECISION 


111 


gets to work. He’ll find it was a costly thing to 
call me a thief, that’s what he will.” 

Now all faintness of heart had gone from Alec. 
The feeling of sickness had left him. He was all 
aglow with determination and purpose. He felt 
that the die was cast. He had made up his mind. 
He felt as strong as Atlas, as indomitable as 
Jupiter. In his vision he saw the delectable goal, 
but he could not see the hard and painful path 
that led up to it. 

Nor was all this as foolish as it might seem to 
many an older head. Dreams are the thing that 
accomplishments are made of — dreams and work. 
Often the faith and enthusiasm of youth are more 
effective than the coldly reasoned acts of maturity. 
And now, though eventual success was no whit 
nearer than it had been a few moments previously, 
Alec felt immensely better in mind. He had come 
to a decision. He had mapped his course. He 
meant to keep his job, if that were at all possible, 
and fight. And he meant to fight until he got to 
the top. 

Now his footstep was no longer stumbling. He 
walked with a firm tread. As he strode up and 
down the pier, his heart was beating the call to 
arms. 

Suddenly he stopped in his tracks. On the ad- 
joining pier was Hawley. Although it was now 
dark, Alec could see him plainly in the glow of 
the pier shed’s lights. There could be no mistake 
as to the man’s identity. Where he had come from. 


112 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

Alec had no idea; nor had he a much clearer idea 
of where the man was going, for Hawley, plainly 
intoxicated, was reeling about uncertainly. Ajid 
he was dangerously near to the edge of the pier. 
He was on the ferry pier, where the tugboat from 
across the river landed its passengers; and no 
oyster-boat had tied up at the end of this pier. 
Beyond its edge was only deep, dark, cold, swirling 
water. 

At sight of Hawley, a feeling of hatred leaped 
into Alec’s heart. He wanted to rush over to the 
pier and attack this man who had tried to kill him. 

Suddenly Alec’s heart stood still. The drunken 
sailor, reeling at the very edge of the pier, stumbled 
over a coil of rope, and fell backward over the 
string-piece, bellowing like a mad bull. Then there 
was a splash and silence. 

For a single instant Alec stood as though rooted 
to the floor. For one second he exulted at the dis- 
aster that had overtaken his enemy. Then a shud- 
der ran over him as he realized that in thought, at 
least, he was a murderer, and that was a million 
times worse than being a thief. 

“ Help ! Help ! ” he cried at the top of his voice. 
“ Man overboard at the ferry landing! ” 

At the same time he rushed to the end of the pier 
and looked right and left for a trace of the missing 
sailor. In the darkness he could see only inky 
water. 

Now He heard men running on the plank floor. 
“A light! ” he cried. “ Bring a light! ” 


ALEC’S DECISION 


113 


In a moment the watehman was beside Alec with 
his lantern. Behind him came running the shipper 
and Captain Bagiey. Alec seized the lantern and 
threw himself prone on the wharf. He held the 
light over the string-piece, while he looked right 
and left into the muddy water. 

“ Know who it was? ” asked Captain Bagiey, as 
he peered over Alec’s shoulder. 

“ Hawley — drunk,” said Alec briefly. 

“ The deuce! ” exclaimed the skipper. “ That’s 
the end of him. He can’t swim.” 

There was a swirl in the water a little way out 
from the pier. An arm and a shoulder writhed 
into view, then sank. Like a flash Alec was on his 
feet. He dropped the lantern on the pier, tore off 
his coat, and plunged headlong toward the swirl 
in the water. 

In a moment his head popped up. “A rope!” 
he cried, then sank beneath the tide. The water 
began to foam and bubble. For an instant the 
struggling men came into view. An arm was 
around Alec’s neck and another about his body. The 
men on the pier saw that he was struggling fran- 
tically in the clutch of the drowning sailor. The 
fight was terrific. Hawley clung to the lad with 
the strength of a giant, choking and strangling 
him. Alec worked frantically to get his arms free, 
treading water desperately to keep his head up. 
He swallowed quantities of muddy, salt water. 
Under the awful pressure about his neck, his eyes 
seemed to be fairly bulging from his head. Swiftly 


114 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOR 

the tide swept the struggling men toward the next 
pier, where a row of oyster-boats lay fast. If the 
water carried them under the boats it meant the 
end of Alec and Hawley. 

Captain Bagley raced around to the adjoining 
pier and out on a boat. Then he darted over the 
knighthead and lowered himself on the chains until 
he was level with the water. 

“ Bring that light, quick! ” he cried. 

The aged watchman hobbled to him as fast as he 
was able. Captain Rumford picked up the coil of 
rope, carried it swiftly aboard the boat, and made 
ready for a cast. 

The tide swept the struggling sailors nearer. 
With all his power Alec was trying to free himself 
from the grip that was strangling him. His 
strength was almost gone. He could no longer 
see anything. His head was pounding. His brain 
seemed to swirl. But he tried desperately to keep 
his wits. He knew that unless he got free it would 
all be over in another moment. Now he wrenched 
his arms loose. Down under the tide sank the 
struggling men again, churning the water to foam 
in their struggles. 

“ Oh God! ” cried Captain Bagley. ‘Tf only I 
could swim.” 

Above him the watchman steadied the light, 
while the shipper stood tense, the looped end of the 
hawser in his hand, ready to make his cast. 

Down, down, down went the fighting sailors. 
But now Alec had his arms loose. With his last 


ALEC’S DECISION 


115 


ounce of strength he shoved his hand over the arm 
that was strangling him and gripped the sailor by 
the nose. With his other hand he dealt him as sav- 
age a blow as he could in the pit of his stomach. 
The effect was magical. The sailor loosened his 
strangle hold and doubled up like a jack-knife. 
Alec grasped the man by the hair, and with all the 
strength left in him, struggled upward. His head 
popped out of water not ten feet from Skipper 
Bagley. The sailor, now unconscious, came to the 
surface. Alec could do no more. He turned on 
his back and tried to float. It seemed to him that 
he could not even wriggle his fingers. He was on 
the verge of unconsciousness himself. Yet he kept 
tight hold of Hawley’s hair. 

Then a voice that seemed to be almost overhead 
put new life in him. “ Catch this rope,” it said, 
“ and slip it under your arms.” 

There was a splash in the water and the rope fell 
across his very fingers. Mechanically he grasped 
it. But he could not get it around his body. He 
slipped his free arm through the noose. Gently 
the rope tightened and he moved ahead through the 
water, the unconscious sailor trailing behind him. 
In a second Captain Bagley had him by the coat 
collar. Then the noose was slipped under both of 
Alec’s arms. 

“ Easy now,” cried the skipper, as he held himself 
on the chains with his legs, keeping Hawley’s head 
above water with one hand, while he steadied Alec 
with the other. Strong arms pulled on the rope. 


116 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOR 

and in a moment Alec was safe. Then the rope was 
made fast about Hawley, and shortly his prostrate 
form lay on the deck. 

Captain Bagley tore off his own coat and 
wrapped it around Alec. “ Run to the Bertha B/* 
he said, “ and get them wet things off. Stir up the 
fire and get something hot inside you.” 

“ In a m-m-m-minute,” said Alec, his teeth chat- 
tering. “ We’ve g-g"got to save Hawley first.” 

“You get out of this,” thundered the oyster 
shipper. “ We’ll take care of Hawley.” 

He grabbed the unconscious sailor by the heels 
and lifted him straight up. Captain Bagley drew 
down the man’s tongue with his handkerchief. 
Water gushed from the sailor’s open mouth. The 
watchman squeezed the man’s ribs to try to press 
out more. Then they laid him on his back and 
began to pump his arms up and down. 

“ That’s too fast,” cried Alec, who was making 
haste slowly and watching them from the pier. 
“ Fifteen times a minute is right, and you ought 
to press in his ribs when you pull down his arms.” 

“ You get aboard the Bertha B/' shouted Cap- 
tain Bagley, “ or I’ll heave you overboard again.” 

“ We’ve got to get him out of this cold air,” said 
the shipper, for in a few minutes Hawley began to 
breathe. “ Let’s take him into the cabin of this 
boat.” 

The watchman led the way with his lantern, while 
the two captains carried the bulky form of the 
sailor down the companionway. 


ALEC'S DECISION 


117 


“ Get his clothes off,” said Captain Rumford. 

Captain Bagley began to strip off the wet gar- 
ments. Somehow Hawley’s pocket-knife had 
worked up above his belt, taking the trousers’ pocket 
Avith it. Captain Bagley could not loosen the belt 
buckle. He drcAV his own knife and started to cut 
off the offending pocket. The sailor’s knife came 
tumbling out. After it slipped a tiny roll of 
round, green paper with a rubber band about it. 
For an instant Captain Bagley seemed paralyzed. 
Then he grabbed the roll and tore off the band. A 
number of wet greenbacks unrolled under his trem- 
bling fingers. Inside of them Avas another roll of 
bills, also fastened with a rubber band. Inside of 
all Avas a check. The ink on it had run, but the 
captain Avas still able to read the name on the check. 
The check AA^as payable to Captain Christopher 
Bagley. 


CHAPTER XI 


A WIRELESS TELEPHONE 

F or a moment the oyster skipper was like one 
struck dumb. Then his usual explosive 
nature asserted itself. 

“ That’s where my money went,” he burst out, 
holding up the severed pocket. He leaped to his 
feet. “You look after this scoundrel and don’t let 
him get away. I’ll go take care of the lad. We 
gave him a rough deal.” 

Captain Bagley was out of the cabin and aboard 
the Bertha B in no time. He found Alec shivering 
by the fire. Without a word the skipper helped 
him peel off the last of his wet garments, and once 
more he set to rubbing Alec with a rough towel. 
As he rubbed, he talked. 

“ Lad,” he said, “ we done you wrong. The 
missing money was in Hawley’s pocket.” 

Alec was too much astonished for words. The 
skipper mistook his silence. “ I want you to let 
bygones be bygones. Will you?” He held out 
his hand. 

Alec grasped it warmly. “ It’s all right,” he 
said, “ and we’ll forget it. But I was pretty much 
cut up for a time. I realize now how bad things 
looked.” Then, after a moment Alec asked, “ How 
118 


A WIEELESS TELEPHONE 


119 


is Hawley? Thank God! I went after him. 
Now you know I’m honest.” 

“ We know more. We know you’re a mighty 
brave lad. There ain’t many fellows around here 
who would take a chance like that to save a fellow 
who had tried to murder them.” 

“ I don’t seem to get warm,” said Alec. 

The captain rubbed him more briskly than ever. 
Still Alec remained chilly. 

“ Guess you’d better put on warm clothes and 
get right into your bunk,” said the skipper, poking 
up the fire and shoving the coffee-pot over the 
warmest griddle. 

Alec pulled on some clothes, then wrapped him- 
self in a reefing- jacket and lay down on his bunk, 
drawing some heavy quilts over him. Still he 
shivered. The captain remained with him, dosing 
him from time to time during the night with hot 
drinks that he brewed on the stove. But this time 
nature was to take her toll. Morning found Alec 
with a high fever. 

The instant Captain Bagley was satisfied that 
Alec was going to be ill, he telephoned Captain 
Rumford. Bivalve, which was nothing but a ship- 
ping port with practically no residences, possessed 
no physician. Captain Rumford said he would 
bring his family doctor down with him ; and before 
many hours passed the physician stood by Alec’s 
bedside. 

“ You’ll have to take mighty good care of this 
lad if he is to escape having pneumonia,” said the 


120 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

physician, after testing Alec’s pulse and tempera- 
ture. “ It’s a wonder the shock didn’t kill him 
outright.” 

“ If his condition is so serious as that,” said the 
shipper, “ he ought to be in a good home where he 
can have proper care.” 

“ He should. If you were willing to take a deck- 
hand into your house. Captain, you would be doing 
an act of real charity.” 

“ Not charity,” said the phlegmatic shipper 
slowly. “ Justice. We owe a lot to that lad.” 

That was all Alec ever heard Captain Rumford 
say by way of explanation or apology. He was a 
man who often found it difficult to express him- 
self in words ; but he had other ways of expressing 
himself, as Alec was soon to learn. Even the little 
he had said was much for him to utter. But little 
as it was, Alec had heard the statement, and it made 
him feel a great deal better than any of the doctor’s 
medicines did. 

For though he was speedily whisked away to the 
shipper’s home, where he had the best of care, his 
illness was severe. Chills and high fever seized him 
alternately. So severe had been the shock of the 
two exposures that his system could not seem to 
rally and throw off the heavy cold that had seized 
upon him. Ten days passed before Alec was pro- 
nounced fit by the doctor to take his place on the 
deck of the Bertha B. 

Irksome enough those ten days seemed to Alec; 
yet they were probably as profitable a ten-day 


A WIEELESS TELEPHONE 


121 


period as he ever spent in his life. For not a day 
passed that Captain Rumford did not spend con- 
siderable time in the sick-room. In those ten days 
Captain Rumford came to know Alec better than 
he would ordinarily have known him in a year. 

“Alec,” he said one day, “ did you know that the 
man who fell overboard was Hawley — ^that is, did 
you know it before you went over after him? ” 

“ Yes, sir,” said Alec. 

“ You were morally certain he had tried to kill 
you, and yet you went overboard after him? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“ Why did you do it? ” 

“ Because he had tried to kill me.” 

“ I don’t understand what you mean.” 

“ I mean — I mean,” stammered Alec, with burn- 
ing cheeks and downcast eyes, “ that for an instant 
I was glad he had fallen overboard. Then the 
thought came to me that in my mind, at least, I was 
a murderer, and that was a million times worse than 
being the thief you believed me to be. I couldn’t 
stand it, sir. The thought drove me wild and I 
had only one idea — to save Hawley at any price.” 

Captain Rumford stared at Alec fixedly. Here 
was a degree of fineness he had never before en- 
countered in a human being. “ He’s true as steel,” 
he thought to himself. Aloud he said merely, “ I 
see,” and paused in thought. 

“What became of Hawley?” asked Alec sud- 
denly. 

“Oh! He’s all right. Bagley was for having 


122 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 


him put in prison at first. Then he cooled down, 
gave the fellow a deuce of a blowing up, and ended 
by finding him a job — just like the captain. Looks 
as though the fellow is trying to brace up, too. 
He’d be a good oysterman if he’d stay sober. By 
the way, have you made up your mind what you 
are going to do with yourself? ” 

“ Yes, sir,” said Alec emphatically. “ I’m going 
to be an oysterman.” But he did not tell Captain 
Rumford when he had come to that decision or wh3^ 
“ Do you have any definite plan in mind? ” 

“ No, sir. I’ve got to learn more about the 
oyster business first. But I’m going to know 
everything there is to know.. And I’m going to 
have an up-to-date outfit. No old done-over 
schooners for me. I’m going to have an oyster- 
boat that is an oyster-boat.” 

The captain smiled ever so faintly. “ What is 
it going to be like? ” he inquired. 

“ Well, it will be bigger and higher and faster 
and have more hold room than any oyster-boat now 
in the fleet. And it will be equij)ped with wireless, 
sir.” 

The lurking smile vanished from the captain’s 
face. “ Where did you get those ideas? ” he de- 
manded. 

“ Partly from hearing others talk and partly 
from my own observation.” 

“ If you ever do,” said the captain, “ I reckon 
you’ll make a lot of ship owners scrap their boats. 
They can’t compete with an outfit like that. How 


A WIEELESS TELEPHONE 


123 


are you expecting to get the money for a boat like 
that? Don’t you know it will cost a lot more than 
the present type of boat, and goodness knows that 
costs enough.” 

“ The minute I finish paying for my father’s 
gravestone, sir, I’m going to begin saving for that 
boat. If these ordinary workers around here earn 
a thousand to twelve hundred dollars a year, work- 
ing ten or twelve hours a day, as I understand they 
do, I can earn a lot more working sixteen hours, 
can’t I? And I can save most of what I earn.” 

“ So that’s your plan,” observed the shipper, 
without comment. Then he thrust his hand into 
his breast pocket and drew forth a letter. “ Your 
mention of your father’s gravestone reminds me 
that I have a letter for you.” And he handed the 
envelope to Alec. 

“ You have made a mistake,” said Alec. “ This 
letter is addressed to you.” 

“ I know. But it is really for you.” 

In wonderment Alec opened and read the letter. 
Moisture came in his eyes. ‘‘ Oh, sir, how can I 
ever thank you? ” he cried. 

The letter was from the Central City monument 
dealer in reply to a sharp note from the shipper. 
It said the stone had been set up and that the dealer 
would be glad to have the remainder due as soon 
as Alec could forward it. Alec did not know it, 
but the captain had practically guaranteed the pay- 
ment of that money. It was his method pf rnaking 
amends. 


124 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

When Alec grew a little stronger and could get 
about a little, but was still far from able to go 
aboard ship, he began to grow very restless. Finally 
he asked if he might have his wireless outfit. The 
shipper got it for him. The outfit interested every- 
body in the household, especially the shipper’s 
daughter Elsa, who was one year younger than 
Alec. Following his instructions, she made a 
single-wire aerial between a near-by tree and the 
window, brought the lead-in wire into the room 
through an insulating tube, and ran the wire round 
the edge of the room to a table beside Alec’s bed. 
Then she ran a ground-wire to a water pipe and 
helped Alec wire up his outfit. 

Necessarily this was of the simplest possible sort. 
There was an old Ford spark-coil, half a dozen dry 
cells, a spark-gap, a transmitting condenser, a 
helix, a transformer, a crystal detector, headpiece, 
and key. All these were of the simplest and 
cheapest sort. Most of them Alec had made him- 
self; and though they did not look so nice as the 
bright, shiny instruments to be bought of manu- 
facturers, they answered the purpose quite as well. 
As Alec and Elsa wired the spark-gap to the trans- 
former, the transformer to the condenser, the con- 
denser to the spark-coil, and added the key and 
the cells, Alec explained how messages were sent in 
varying wave-lengths, and how it was possible to 
listen to one message and tune out other messages 
pf different wave-lengths. 

‘‘ If only I had a little more powerful battery,” 


A WIEELESS TELEPHONE 


125 


said Alec, “ I could talk to my old chums at home. 
I believe I can easily talk to the big steamers out 
on the Atlantic, and I’m going to try it. You 
know one of my chums is Roy Mercer, wireless man 
of the steamer JLy coming. His boat will be coming 
up the coast from Galveston in a few days and I’m 
going to try to get into communication with him. 
Won’t he be surprised to find that I am down in 
New Jersey and in a fair way to be a sailor my-» 
self.” 

Elsa was fascinated by the wireless. When Alec 
picked up some of the messages that were flying 
through the air in the evenings, and copied them 
down for her, she was so excited she could hardly 
keep her mind on her lessons. 

“ If only I could understand what it means,” she 
said, as she sat listening from time to time with the 
receivers strapped to her ears. 

“ That’s easy,” smiled Alec. ‘‘ I can teachi you 
and you’ll be able to learn in a few weeks.” 

“ But you won’t be here in a few weeks,” sighed 
Elsa, “ and besides I want to communicate by wire- 
less right away.” 

“ The only way to do that,” said Alec, “ is to 
have a wireless telephone. But I don’t have the 
instruments. They cost more than a wireless tele- 
graph set, too.” 

“ What would you use? ” asked Elsa. 

“ If I just had a good storage battery instead of 
these dry cells, a V. T. socket and bulb, some B 
batteries and a telephone block to add to the in- 


126 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

stmments I already have, we could receive wire- 
less telephone messages O. K. And it wouldn’t 
take very much additional equipment for us to be 
able to send wireless telephone messages. Some 
day when I have the time and the money, I’m going 
to make and buy a complete outfit. With that, I 
can hold a conversation with any one else who has 
an outfit within range.” 

“Wouldn’t that be wonderful!” cried Elsa. 
“ Just to think of it! If I had an outfit here and 
you had one on the Bertha B we could talk to each 
other no matter where you were, whether you were 
tied up at your pier or out on the Bay! It would 
be wonderful.” 

When Alec looked at the bright face before him, 
with the flashing, blue eyes, pink cheeks, red lips, 
and curly brown hair, he, too, thought it would 
be wonderful. He also thought it would be worth 
quite as much as some of the dollars he might earn 
and save. Very quickly he decided that he could 
wait a few hours longer than he had expected for 
his ideal oyster-boat, and put those hours into the 
making of some wireless telephone sets. Of course 
they wouldn’t look as nice as store goods, but they 
would be quite as effective; and when he and Elsa 
were talking to each other through miles of space 
and over leagues of tumbling water, he knew neither 
one would remember or care about the looks of their 
instruments. What they would be concerned about 
would be instmments that talked. That, he sud- 
denly thought, was just what the shipper wanted 


A WIEELESS TELEPHONE 


127 


and the Bertha B's captain wanted, and everybody 
else wanted — dependability, whether in men or 
instruments. It wasn’t the varnish on the outside 
that made a man or a wireless instrument worth 
while. It was the quality of performance that came 
out of that man or instrument. 

Alec had almost fallen into a day-dream when he 
was recalled by Elsa’s voice. “ Dad’s crazy about 
music, you know, and nobody in the family knows 
one note from another. He promised me a fine 
piano on my next birthday if I’d learn to play it, 
but I don’t want the old piano. I’m going to ask 
him to get me a wireless telephone set instead.” 

“ If you get it,” said Alec, “ I’ll make and buy 
the pieces I need to convert this outfit into a first- 
class telephone set. Then we’ll be fixed. If your 
father won’t buy you the set, then I’ll make all the 
pieces I can for you, and we can manage to buy 
what is lacking. You know a fellow can make 
almost everything except the receivers and the 
battery.” 

In one respect Elsa was like Captain Bagley. 
To think was to act. No sooner had she decided to 
ask for a wireless telephone set than she made her 
request. She came back with a long face. Her 
father would none of it. 

Alec became thoughtful. “ If I just had those 
few pieces I need to add to this set,” he said, “ I 
believe I could make your father change his mind in 
regard to the matter.” 

‘‘ How? ” cried Elsa. 


128 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

“ I believe if he once listened in with a wireless 
telephone, he’d want one himself,” 

“Impossible!” cried Elsa. “He’s as set as 
Gibraltar in his ways. Why, it was years before 
we could get him to install an ordinary telephone, 
and he wouldn’t get a motor-car until years after 
everybody else here had one. And I know he 
thinks this wireless set of yours is all nonsense.” 

“ I’d bet a dollar to a doughnut he’d change his 
mind if I could just get a telephone set while I’m 
here.” 

“ What is it you need? Tell me again.” 

“A good storage battery, a V. T. socket and bulb, 
some B batteries and a telephone block.” 

“ Would a battery from a Ford car answer? ” 

“ That’s exactly what I want.” 

“ Well, I have a Ford runabout, you know, and I 
take care of it myself. Dad kicks about it every 
time I come in smeared up with grease. But he 
can’t stop me. I’ll get that battery charged and 
uncouple it and bring it up here. And I’ve got 
enough money to buy those other things unless 
they’re too awful expensive.” 

“ They don’t cost so much,” said Alec. “ It’s the 
battery that’s expensive.” 

“ Tell me again what they were. Wait. Write 
it down.” 

Elsa brought a piece of paper and a pencil. 
Alec wrote down his list. Then he thought the 
matter over carefully. “ Yes,” he said, “ those are 
all the pieces I need, though I ought to have a sec- 


A WIEELESS TELEPHONE 129 

ond set of receivers. They’d fix us up all right. 
If you get them, we can hear well, especially if the 
battery is freshly charged. We’ll use them while 
I’m here, and after I go you can keep them as part 
of the set I’m going to make for you.” 

Elsa left the room. Presently Alec heard the 
purring of her motor-car. Then he sat in silence 
for a long time. Finally he heard a motor-car 
drive into the yard. Not long afterward Elsa came 
into the room, struggling with her Ford battery. 

“ Had it recharged,” she panted, “ and got all the 
things you wanted.” 

“ Then we’ll wire them right up,” said Alec. 

“ I’m awful sorry, but I have to attend a re- 
hearsal for our class play. I can’t stay now.” 

Alec wired up the instruments himself. It was 
early evening, and atmospheric conditions seemed 
ideal for wireless communication. 

“ Now we’ll see what the outfit will do,” said Alec 
to himself, as he clamped a pair of receivers on his 
head and threw over his switch. 

For a long time he listened and worked, tuning 
and adjusting his instruments. At first there was 
a frightful whistling and wailing in his ears. But 
gradually he tuned it out, eliminating all but the 
sounds he wished to hear. 

“ Now I guess I can handle her O. K.,” muttered 
Alec. 

Just then a voice came ringing through the air. 
“ This is WJZ broadcasting. We will begin our 
concert this evening with the sextette from Lucia, 


130 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

rendered by singers from the Metropolitan Opera 
Company.” Then, after a moment’s pause, “ Stand 
by for three minutes.” 

“ Captain Rumford,” called Alec loudly. 

“ Hello! SVhat is it? ” came the response from 
below. 

“ Won’t you come here at once, please? ” 

Captain Rumford ran up-stairs to Alec’s room, 
thinking something was the matter. 

“ Please sit down and put this on your head,” 
said Alec. 

The captain frowned. “ What’s this nonsense? ” 
he said sharply. “ I thought you were in trouble.” 

“ Please do as I ask,” said Alec. “ I won’t keep 
you five minutes.” 

The captain sat down, the frown still on his fore- 
head. The music started. Clear as a bell on a 
frosty morning came the beautiful melody, now ris- 
ing, now falling, every word clear and distinct. 
Captain Rumford’s face was a study. Astonish- 
ment, incredulity, intense pleasure were reflected 
on his countenance. He sat as one entranced. 
Skilfully Alec shifted his tuning instruments, shut- 
ting out the occasional blurs and keeping the tone 
sharp and distinct. The selection ended. Captain 
Rumford turned toward Alec and started to remove 
his headpiece. 

“ Wait,” said Alec. “ Please sit still.” 

“ The next number on our programme will be 
Humoresque, as played by Mischa Elman,” came 
the voice in the air, 


A WIEELESS TELEPHONE 


131 


In another moment the strains of a violin were 
sounding in the captain’s ears. For nearly an hour 
he sat in silence, listening to the world’s most beau- 
tiful music, rendered by famous musicians. He 
was too amazed to speak. He sat there, drinking in 
the music, the very picture of ecstasy. 

“ Where’s that from? ” he demanded, when the 
announcer said the concert was ended. 

“ Newark,” said Alec. 

“ Impossible! Why, Newark is more than one 
hundred miles distant. It can’t be.” 

Alec smiled. “ It was Newark just the same,” 
he said. ‘‘ That was the Newark station of the 
Westinghouse Manufacturing Company broad- 
casting.” 

“ What do you mean? ” 

“ Why, they send out stuff broadcast at every 
hour of the afternoon and evening. It’s free for 
everybody. All you need is a wireless telephone 
set.” 

“ Do you mean they send out music? ” 

‘‘ They send out everything you can think of — 
government weather forecasts, marine news, hap- 
penings of the day, baseball scores, stories for chil- 
dren, lectures by famous men and women, the finest 
kind of music, and lots of other stuff. They give a 
concert every night in the week. And they send 
their weekly programmes free to anybody that asks 
for them. And there are many other stations that 
broadcast, too. There are Pittsburgh and Chicago 
and Anacostia and ever so many others.” 


132 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

The captain was dumfounded. ‘‘ Young man! ” 
he said, “ What did that outfit cost? ” 

“ Very little,” said Alec. “ I made most of it 
mj^self. Elsa got these few things this afternoon. 
For a hundred or a hundred and fifty dollars you 
could get as fine a receiving set as you’d want. A 
sending set would cost more.” 

“You can! Alec, will you buy a good set for 
me and wire it up? I want the best you can get. 
You can spend as much money as you like, within 
reason.” 

“ Certainly, sir,” said Alec, trying to keep from 
shouting for very joy. “ I’ll be only too glad to. 
I’ll write for catalogues at once and order the stuff. 
And when it comes. I’ll install it and teach you 
and Elsa how to operate it.” 

“Fine!” sighed the shipper. “At last we are 
going to have some music in this house! ” 


CHAPTER XII 


ALEC GETS A NEW JOB 



IKE many another wish, that for the two sets 


-I— ✓ of wireless telephones was unexpectedly slow 
of achievement. The oyster shipper’s instruments 
arrived promptly enough, and Alec installed them 
and taught Captain Rumford and his family how to 
manipulate them. But it was a long, long time 
before Alec’s own set was completed. Needing to 
save every cent possible, Alec bought only such 
materials as he could not pick up free, and set about 
constructing his instruments ; but it was a slow job. 

For now he was once more back on the oyster- 
boat; and his plan to learn all there was to learn 
about oystering, and to spend every minute of his 
waking hours at work, was more than an idle boast. 
So he was up by four in the morning or soon there- 
after, helping the cook. All day he was busy 
catching oysters. By the time the Bertha B was 
scrubbed off and made fast to her pier, darkness 
was at hand. Alec’s evenings were necessarily very 
brief, as it was absolutely necessary for him to go 
to bed early if he was to get up early. The only 
free time he had was that consumed by the trips to 
and from the oyster grounds. And even that grew 


133 


134 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

steadily less, as he took more and more burdens 
upon his shoulders. 

Like most boys of his age, Alec knew considerable 
about gasoline motors. In fact Alec was fairly 
skilled in their handling. Often he had helped a 
neighbor at home clean and repair his motor-car. 
His high school physics had taught him a great deal 
about the theory of gas engine operation. And he 
had many times driven his neighbor’s car. Alto- 
gether, he was a handy lad to have about where 
there were gas engines of any sort. 

Down in the hold, where the Bertha's engine 
chugged so steadily, the air was always tainted with 
the sickening fumes of exploded gasoline, and the 
smell of oil. For hours every day, year in and 
year out, Joe had sat beside his engine, unrelieved. 
Never before had the Bertha B numbered among 
her crew any one else who was capable of tending 
the engine. Now, as Alec, little by little, showed 
his capacity and won Joe’s confidence, he was al- 
lowed to handle the big motor. In time, he was 
permitted, for limited periods, to operate it alto- 
gether, while Joe went to deck for a breath of fresh 
air. Thus Alec learned a great deal about the 
Bertha B's motor in particular and ship motors in 
general. 

As against his capability in some lines, was bal- 
anced Alec’s utter ignorance in others. He knew 
nothing whatever about navigation. But he set 
himself to learn, and the captain, seeing his desire, 
aided him. He explained the compass to Alec and 


ALEC GETS A NEW JOB 


135 


showed him how to steer by it so that he could keep 
a given course, when no landmarks were in sight. 
He told him how fast the Bertha B ordinarily 
traveled, and what her maximum speed was. He 
explained the best speeds for dredging, the proper 
length of chain to use on the dredges at given stages 
of the tide, showed him the distant landmarks by 
which he could locate the Rumford oyster grounds 
when the stakes were missing, taught him how to 
find his way into the river at night by the range- 
lights, and how to distinguish East Point Light 
from Egg Island Light and all the other lights 
along the Bay. And the captain taught him about 
the tides, and how to figure them and take advan- 
tage of their flow and allow for drift in steering 
the boat. He also taught Alec how to find his way 
through a fog, and how to judge the direction and 
distance of sounds in a fog. These and many other 
things Captain Bagley explained to his new hand, 
delighted, as men of accomplishment always are, to 
find a lad who was really eager to learn. 

Day by day Alec grew in knowledge. All that 
he needed to make his knowledge wisdom was ex- 
pei’ience. And with every revolution of the sun he 
was acquiring that. Occasionally the captain let 
Alec steer the boat while he himself went back in 
the cabin for a time. Sometimes the engineer 
asked Alec to run the motor for a few minutes. 
And often, when they were all on deck culling 
oysters, and Alec and Bishop had cleaned up their 
dredgeful^ Dick would call across the deck to Alec 


136 


THE YOUNG WIKELESS OPEBATOR 


and ask if he would look at the roast in the oven, 
or put a little more water on the beans or stir the 
potatoes. And Alec would skip inside and execute 
the commission. So he came to know, not only 
how to prepare the foods furnished on the Bertha B, 
but also to know which foods sailors like and which 
they will not eat. In these and a hundred other 
ways, Alec Avas daily making good his assertion that 
he wanted to know all there was to know about the 
oyster business, and storing away a vast fund of 
information that would some day be of the greatest 
value to him. 

Necessarily, therefore, the construction of his 
wireless outfit was delayed. With the ship pitching 
and rolling, as it usually did in the Bay, it was 
difficult to do the fine, exacting work required, such 
as the winding of the variometer he was making, or 
the fitting of the parts of a large, loose coupler. 
Yet every available moment Avent into the work. 

Meantime, Alec had gained Captain Bagley’s 
permission to put up his telegraph set on the Bertha 
B, He ran a single-Avire aerial from masthead to 
cabin roof and brought his lead-in Avire directly into 
his bunk. He built a shelf at the foot of his bunk 
and fastened his instruments on it. His cells he 
secured in a corner of the bunk itself. 

In these narroAv quarters where he could hardly 
sit upright he carried on AAffiatever wireless com- 
munications he held. They were brief enough. 
Yet he listened to many a message speeding through 
the air, and he particularly liked to ‘‘ take Cape 


ALEC GETS A NEW JOB 


137 


May.” Never before had Alec been so near a great 
wireless plant. The station there, only twenty 
miles from the Bertha's pier, sent its powerful mes- 
sages snapping into Alec’s ear as distinctly as 
though the sending instruments were in the Bertha's 
very cabin. 

Best of all were the brief conversations Alec had 
with Roy Mercer, when the Lycoming passed. 
Every time that steamer went up or down the coast, 
Roy and Alec got into touch by wireless and told 
each other what they had been doing. And some- 
times Roy was able to talk to Charley Russell, an- 
other member of the Camp Brady Wireless Patrol, 
who had become first a fire patrol and then a ranger 
in the forests of Pennsylvania, and had saved the 
state’s finest stand of timber by the help of his 
wireless and the powerful battery his fellows of the 
Wireless Patrol had purchased for him. Often 
Alec caught Charley’s answers himself, without 
needing to have Roy relay them to him. It was 
mighty good to hear from his old comrade back 
among the Pennsylvania mountains. 

At last, however, Alec completed his telephone 
set. He still lacked a battery, but his keen sense 
of obligation would not let him buy one until he 
had entirely wiped out his debt to Captain Rum- 
ford. For Alec now regarded his indebtedness for 
the gravestone as an obligation to the shipper rather 
than to the marble dealer. Every week Alec 
turned over to Captain Rumford practically all of 
his pay. This mounted steadily from the ten dol- 


138 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

lars earned in his first week to full pay. So the 
debt was extinguished much sooner than Alec had 
dreamed it would be. 

His next expenditure was for a battery. Once 
he had secured that, he wired up his telephone set 
and found it worked well. That night he broke 
his rule about retiring early. He was talking to 
Elsa. After that the two conversed for a time in 
the early evening before the great electrical com- 
panies began to broadcast their programmes, so as 
to be done with the instruments before Captain 
Rumford appeared to listen to the music. The 
dream of the captain’s life was realized. He had 
music in his home every night, and an amplifying 
horn made it audible to all. 

Alec, needless to say, became a first-class deck- 
hand. Not a day passed that he did not learn some- 
thing new about the oyster business. As he had 
practically no expenses, his savings grew fast. 

Cold weather came. From time to time it was 
too cold to operate the oyster-boats. Then the fleet 
lay in port and the shippers worried because they 
could not fill their orders. 

“ When I get my boat,” said Alec to himself, 
“ nothing but the heaviest ice will prevent her from 
operating. She will be high enough so the men 
can work in the hold, and there won’t be any likeli- 
hood of the oysters freezing.” 

Truly it is an ill wind that blows nobody good. 
The cold days, though they brought loss to shippers 
and sailors alike, were helpful to Alec. When 


ALEO GETS A NEW JOB 


139 


there was no work for the lad aboard the Bertha By 
Captain Rumford brought him into the office. The 
shipper still clung to the old-fashioned business 
methods he had learned as a boy. He had no 
clerical help, but tried to keep his accounts and carry 
on his correspondence in person. Though it was 
more of a task than he could handle, for a long time 
he obstinately refused to alter his methods. 

One cold day in midwinter, when every boat in 
the fleet was tied up, Alec noticed that the captain 
was fairly sweating under the mountain of clerical 
work that had accumulated. He was writing some 
letters, which he had later to copy so as to have 
duplicates ; and there were bills to be made out, bills 
to be paid, accounts to be entered in the books, 
correspondence to be answered, and a dozen other 
tasks to be done. 

“ Won’t you let me help you? ” said Alec. “ I 
haven’t done a thing since you brought me into the 
office but run errands. Any ten-year-old can do 
that as well as I can. In high school I studied book- 
keeping, typewriting, commercial correspondence, 
and a good many other things about business and 
office work. I’ve had the training. Won’t you 
let me help you? ” 

The captain hesitated. In all his life nobody but 
himself had ever written a business letter for him, 
or posted an account in his books. He looked at 
the pile of work heaped up on his desk. Then he 
looked at the unopened mail Alec had just brought 
from the post-office, 


140 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

“ You can slit the envelopes,” he said, still hesi- 
tating. “ That would save some time.” 

Alec had to turn sharp about to hide the smile 
that he couldn’t prevent. Then he whipped out his 
knife, and in a minute every letter was cut and 
ready to open. Alec even pulled each letter part 
way out of its envelope, to facilitate handling. 

“ Now let me copy that list, while you look over 
your mail,” urged Alec. 

“ I don’t know,” said the shipper. “ Let me see 
your handwriting.” 

Alec wrote the shipper’s name and address. His 
penmanship was a great deal better than the 
shipper’s cramped and hurried chirography. 

“ Well, you be careful — very careful,” said the 
shipper, reluctantly surrendering his pen to Alec. 

Alec’s task was purely mechanical. He copied 
the list faster and more legibly than the captain 
had done. When he completed it, the captain was 
addressing shipping tags. “ Let me do that, while 
you do something more important,” urged Alec. 

“ Be careful. Be very careful,” warned the 
shipper. 

When the tags were finished, and Captain Rum- 
ford found that not a single mistake had been made, 
he gave Alec another task. So the two worked 
busily all the morning long. Before either was 
aware of it, noon had arrived. 

“ By George! ” cried the shipper, with sparkling 
eyes. “ There’s a whole day’s work done and it’s 
only dinner time. We’ll be able to make a big 


ALEC GETS A NEW JOB 


141 


hole in this pile this afternoon,” and he pointed to 
the accumulated work awaiting attention at one 
end of his desk. 

The cold spell continued for several days, and 
in that time Captain Rumford and Alec cleaned up 
every one of the accumulated tasks; the captain 
got his books posted, and even got a little ahead 
with some routine work. The captain felt as 
though a mountain had been lifted from his shoul- 
ders. Alec realized that another opportunity had 
come his way. He had gained an insight into the 
clerical end of oystering. He didn’t know whether 
other offices were run like Captain Rumford’s or 
not; but he did understand that in this particular 
office, at least, there was room for great improve- 
ment. If only the captain would change his 
methods, he could still do his work single-handed. 
And with the cost of clerk hire so high, that was a 
thing worth accomplishing. In his own mind Alec 
pictured the office as he would conduct it if it were 
his. He thought over all the time-saving devices 
he could employ. And he decided that he could do 
as much work as the captain did in about half the 
time it took the shipper. That was not because 
Alec considered himself a superior clerk, but be- 
cause he knew how to use modern clerical devices 
and appreciated their value. 

“ Captain Rumford,” he said, when he had 
turned the matter over well in his mind, “ I notice 
that you write out your shipping tags by hand day 
after day, and that it takes quite a little time. 


142 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

Don’t you have regular customers that you ship to 
year after year? ” 

“ Why, lad, I’ve got customers I’ve shipped to 
for twenty years,” said the captain proudly. 

“And in all those twenty years I suppose you’ve 
addressed all your tags by hand? ” 

“ Certainly, certainly.” 

“ Wouldn’t you save time. Captain, if you had 
a rubber stamp made for each old customer? 
Here’s a tag you’ve addressed to Day and Moore, 
Scranton, Pennsylvania. Ever since I’ve been 
here I have noticed bags of oysters going to them 
almost daily. So I judge they are old customers.” 

“ Exactly,” replied the shipper. “ One of my 
oldest customers.” 

“ If you had a rubber stamp with their name and 
address on it, you could stamp a tag much faster 
than you can write it, and the address would be 
much easier to read. With a stamp for each old 
customer, hung up with the address of each cus- 
tomer over his particular stamp, you could address 
a good many tags in a minute. Think how much 
time you would save.” 

“ Um! ” grunted the captain. “ Um! I’ll think 
it over. It might work. It might work.” 

Alec tried hard to keep down the smile that 
wanted to come. “And, Captain Rumford,” he 
went on, “ if only you would get a typewriter, I 
could WTite letters for you and make carbon copies 
or copy them in the copying-press. It wouldn’t 
take one-fourth the time it takes to write your let- 


ALEC GETS A NEW JOB 


143 


ters by hand, let alone make copies of some of them. 
Then you’d have copies of everything.” 

“Um!” said the captain again. “But who’d 
do the typewriting when you are not here? The 
Bertha B won’t always be tied up by cold 
weather.” 

“ Well,” laughed Alec, “ I don’t suppose I’ll al- 
ways be a deck-hand on the Bertha B, for that mat- 
ter. If you wanted to make a deck-hand into an 
office hand, I don’t know what would prevent you. 
And I’m sure ‘ Barkis would be willin’.’ ” 

“ Barkis,” said the shipper, straightening up. 
“ Who’s he, and what’s he got to do with my busi- 
ness, anyway? ” 

“ Oh ! He’s just a character in a book,” said 
Alec. This time he could not conceal the smile, and 
he added, “ He’s just a funny sort of fellow that 
makes you laugh when you think of him.” 

“But what’s this about his being ‘willin’’? 
What’s the connection, anyway?” 

“ Oh! That was just a phrase of his, that came 
into my head. What I meant was that I would be 
willing to change from deck-hand to office hand any 
time you wanted me to.” 

Captain Rumford wheeled around toward Alec 
as though he were about to bite him. “Are you 
getting tired of catching oysters so soon? ” he de- 
manded. “ I thought you had some sand.” 

“ Tired! ” cried Alec. “ I love it. But I don’t 
want to be a deck-hand forever, and I don’t intend 
to be, either. There’s so much to learn about the 


144 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

business that I’ve got to keep moving, or I’ll never 
learn it.” 

“ So you think you already know all there is to 
learn on shipboard, do you? ” said the captain with 
cold contempt. 

“No, sir. I do not,” replied Alec, his cheeks 
aflame at the captain’s words. “ But I realize there 
are so manj^ things to learn that I must be moving 
on or I’ll be an old man before I’m ready to start 
in the business.” 

“ So you’re still determined to be an oysterman? ” 

“Absolutely.” 

“ That’s very good. But if I were you I’d wait 
a while before I tried to teach old oystermen how to 
run their business.” 

“ If you think that’s the way I feel,” cried Alec 
indignantly, “ you are very much mistaken. What 
I want to do now is to learn all there is to know 
about oystering. But that doesn’t mean I’m not 
going to learn some of the things oystermen have 
never done. I don’t know what they are, yet, but 
there are some such things. You don’t catch 
oysters to-day the same way you did when you were 
young. Then you didn’t have gasoline engines, or 
telephones, or motor-boats, or automobiles. And 
to-morrow we shall be using lots of things we don’t 
use to-day. I’m going to find out what they are 
and learn all about them, so I’ll be right up-to-date 
when I become an oyster shipper.” 

The shipper looked long and hard at Alec. 
“ Why are you so all-fired keen about doing things 


ALEC GETS A NEW JOB 


145 


in what you call an ‘ up-to-date way ’ ? Suppose a 
man doesn’t take up with these newfangled notions, 
he’s still an oysterman, isn’t he, and he still has his 
beds and still sells oysters, doesn’t he? ” 

“ Yes, for a time,” said Alec slowly. 

‘‘ What do you mean? ” 

“ I mean,” said Alec, “ that no man and no busi- 
ness can be very much behind the times and remain 
successful. If a merchant lighted his store with 
candles instead of electricity, he would not keep his 
trade very long in these days. Some of the oyster- 
men are still using sails, I notice, while the rest of 
you are using gasoline. Well, they will eventually 
be driven out of the 03^ster business. They have to 
pay the same wages for hands that you do, and they 
don’t catch more than half as many oysters in the 
same time. See how that cuts their margin of 
profit. When they strike a poor season, a lot of 
them will go broke.” 

“ I reckon you’re about right.” 

“ Well, when I become a shipper, I don’t intend 
to go broke, I’m going to stay right up with the 
leaders. So I want to know all I can learn about 
oystering — office work as well as navigation. And 
as for your office work, if you had a typewriter I 
could answer your letters in the afternoons, after 
the Bertha B gets in. The skipper could put me 
ashore before he unloads his oysters. Why, I 
could have your letters pretty well cleaned up be- 
fore the boat made fast for the night. I could help 
you quite a lot, sii’.” 


146 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

“Um!” grunted the shipper. “I’ll think it 
over.” 

But before the captain came to a decision, Alec 
had found another task that took every moment of 
his spare time. The weather turned warm, and the 
fleet resumed work. The usual activity again pre- 
vailed at the pier shed. In the midst of it, old Pete 
had a paralytic stroke. He could no longer collect 
shells, and many a shipper found himself with his 
scows still full of shells when morning came. Cap- 
tain Rumford was one of them. Alec was quick to 
see the opportunity. If he could take care of these 
shells, he would help both his employer and him- 
self, for he could sell the shells when spring came, 
to the oyster-planters. At once he spoke to Cap- 
tain Rumford about it. 

“ If I could get a boat,” he said, “ I would guar- 
antee to keep your scows clean.” 

“ If there was any way you could do it,” said the 
shipper, “ I’d be mighty glad to let you. I’m tired 
of fooling with these old fellows. It’s a real shell 
game they work on us.” 

“ I can do it easily, sir,” pleaded Alec. “ I have 
lots of time after the Bertha B reaches her pier.” 

“ Maybe you could,” said the shipper, still hesi- 
tating. 

“ Of course I could. I might have to work after 
dark sometimes, but I wouldn’t mind that.” 

“ We’ll try it,” said the shipper suddenly, “ but 
what are you going to do about a boat? ” 

“ I’ve got enough money saved to buy a boat,” 


ALEC GETS A NEW JOB 


147 


said Alec, “ unless it costs too much. Would you 
be willing to help me buy it? ” 

“ Certainly.” 

They found just the boat Alec wanted. It was 
long, wide, and flat bottomed with square ends and 
very high sides. It would hold at least fifty bushels 
of shells when full. 

“ What do you want such a big boat for? ” de- 
manded the shipper. 

“ Because I’ll need it,” said Alec. “ While I am 
taking your shells away, I might just as well get 
some more, too. I’m sure some of the other ship- 
pers will give me their shells if I guarantee their 
removal every day. There’s one thing still puzzling 
me, though. Where am I to dump the shells after 
I have collected them? ” 

“ I’ll fix that,” said the shipper. ‘‘ Old Si 
Newcomb owns the land along the river below the 
sheds. It’s just the place you want. He’ll let you 
put your shells there if I ask him.” 

“ Thank you,” said Alec. “ Now I’ll take my 
boat and get your shells.” . 

“ I’ll ride back with you,” said the shipper. 

Alec took the sculling oar and shoved off. But 
when he tried to propel the boat as he had seen men 
doing, his oar flew out of water and he could not 
budge his craft. 

The shipper laughed. ‘‘ I thought you might 
find yourself in trouble. It seems there are still 
some things an old-timer can teach the young fry. 
Give me that oar.” 


148 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

He fitted it into place and the boat fairly flew 
over the water under his skilful strokes. Yet he 
seemed to be working very little. “ Watch that 
oar,” said the shipper. And after a moment, 
“ Watch my wrist.” 

Alec soon caught the trick of twisting the oar 
with each stroke, and with a little practice found 
himself able to propel the boat fairly well. He 
sculled the craft to the captain’s pier and collected 
his shells. Then he asked the shippers at adjoining 
piers for their shells, guaranteeing their removal 
each evening if he could have the shells. Still awk- 
ward in the handling of his boat, Alec was slow in 
finishing his task. When he started for his dump^ 
ing-ground, the tide had turned and was against 
him. It was all he could do to force the heavy boat 
against the swift current. 

“ I see two improvements I need to make right 
away,” said Alec to himself. “ I need lights and I 
need power. I can buy the lights at once. And 
when I get a little more money saved. I’ll get one 
of these portable motors to hang over the stern. 
Then I can work faster and easier.” 

As soon as he had emptied his shells and made 
his boat fast, Alec walked over to Port Norris, the 
nearest town, where he found an acetylene lamp 
that would answer his purpose. He bought it and 
some carbide and walked back to Bivalve. He 
went to his boat, and decided how he would mount 
the light. Then he started for the Bertha B. But 
first he paused to look at the little pile of shells he 


ALEC GETS A NEW JOB 


149 


had thro^vn on the shore. There were only a few 
bushels and the heap seemed very small indeed. 

“ I suppose there aren’t more than thirty cents’ 
worth altogether,” said Alec to himself, “ but never 
mind. Great oaks from little acorns grow. No- 
body knows how big this shell pile will become, or 
what will come of the venture. But one thing’s 
sure. I started at the bottom, and I haven’t gotten 
far yet, but I’ve climbed one rung of the ladder, 
anyhow. I’m more than a mere deck-hand. I’m a 
shell merchant, now,” and Alec laughed heartily 
at the joke. “ How long will it be before I’m an 
oyster merchant? ” 


CHAPTER XIII 


AN UNLOOKED-rOll ERIEND 

M uch sooner than he had ever dreamed would 
be the case, Alec had an opportunity to be- 
come an oyster merchant. But it was a sort of 
oyster business very different from any he had 
thought of. It was no trouble at all for Alec to 
secure the shells of additional shippers, for by this 
time Alec was favorably known to almost every- 
bodj^ at Bivalve. The story of his rescue of Haw- 
ley had drawn attention to him. And his modest 
demeanor, his cheerful way, and his general spirit 
of helpfulness, attracted every one who met him. 

But more powerful than these influences was the 
fact that Captain Rumford stood behind him. If 
the captain said a thing would be done, every man 
at the oyster piers knew it would be done. And the 
captain was glad to speak to any fellow shipper 
whose shells Alec wanted, and guarantee their re- 
moval. Alec secured those from neighboring piers, 
so as to lessen the amount of work he would have 
to do. Nor was there much difficulty about this. 
The oyster shippers generally had been so dis- 
satisfied with the uncertain manner of collecting 
150 


AN UNLOOKED-FOR FRIEND 


161 


shells that they were ready to adopt almost any 
plan which promised real improvement. So Alec 
speedily found himself with more shells engaged 
than he really knew how to handle. 

Naturally he did not get shells away from the 
old collectors without gaining their enmity, too. 
They cursed him when they met him, and some even 
threatened him. Alec paid little attention to them ; 
but he was too wise to disregard their threats alto- 
gether. He had had one experience with an enemy 
that nearly cost him his life, and he did not propose 
to be caught napping a second time. His work 
after dark made it especially easy for any one to 
harm him who so chose. So Alec went about with 
both eyes and both ears open. 

One night he had finished collecting his shells and 
had just pulled into his dumping-ground, when a 
dark form stepped out of the marsh reeds and 
leaped aboard his boat. Instinctively Alec picked 
up his oar and prepared to defend himself. When 
he saw that the man was Hawley, he gripped the 
oar tighter than ever and made ready for a strug- 
gle. His heart began to beat like a pneumatic 
riveter, but he stood firm, and tried to appear un- 
concerned. 

“ Hello, youngster,” said the giant sailor, advanc- 
ing a step toward him. “ You’re getting a lot of 
trade, I see.” 

“ Yes. More than I can handle.” 

“ Exactly what I reckoned,” replied Hawley. 
“ Exactly what I I’eckoned.” 


162 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

Alec wondered why, if the man intended harm to 
him, he did not attack him at once. “ He’s just 
waiting to take me off my guard,” he said to him- 
self. Aloud he said, “ The oyster business is pretty 
slack just now, and I can just manage to handle 
the shells. But I don’t know what I would do if 
the shippers should have a rush of business. I 
guess I’d have to have help or else quit the 
Bertha B/' 

“ Exactly what I reckoned,” said Hawley. 
“ Exactly what I reckoned. And I come to offer 
to help you.” 

Alec nearly tumbled over backward in his aston- 
ishment. “ I’d like to have your help all right,” he 
said, still eyeing Hawley distrustfully, “ but I don’t 
know how I’d pay you.” 

“ Who said anything about pay? ” asked Hawley. 

“ I don’t exactly understand what you mean,” 
said Alec. “ Of course you’d want pay if you 
helped me, and, of course, I would expect to pay 
you. Nobody can afford to work for nothing.” 

“ Exactly what I reckon,” said Hawley. “ But 
I’ve had my pay already. Now I want to earn it.” 

“ I don’t understand you.” 

The big oysterman stepped forward. Alec re- 
treated and raised his oar. “ Just stand back, will 
you? ” he said. 

“ I don’t blame you a bit for feelin’ that way, 
seein’ as how j^ou never had no reason to trust me,” 
replied Hawle}^ and he went back to the very bow 
of the boat. “ But I don’t mean you no harm, lad. 


AN UNLOOKED-FOE FEIEND 


163 


I come to help you. Jim Hawley ain’t no copper- 
head, even if you do have reason to think so. That 
wasn’t Jim Hawley that chucked you into the river. 
It was old John Barleycorn. Jim Hawley ain’t 
that sort of a feller. I’m done with John Barley- 
corn, and I want you to know the real Jim Haw- 
ley. I want to help you and it won’t cost you a 
cent.” 

Alec was too much astonished for words. “ It’s 
mighty kind of you,” he said, “ but I couldn’t accept 
any man’s services without paying him for them.” 

“ Come, come, lad, don’t be foolish,” urged the 
big sailor. “You need me a whole lot more than 
you think.” 

“ I’d like to know how.” 

“ Well, I didn’t want to tell you this, lad. But 
I’d feel safer about you if I was around. You 
know them shell collectors you been gettin’ shells 
away from don’t love you any too much, and I don’t 
like to think of you out here alone in the dark. It’s 
been worryin’ me.” 

“ Worrving you! Why should you worry about 
me? ” 

Big Hawley hung his head. “ I ain’t had a 
decent night’s sleep since I sobered up,” he said. 
“ Cap’n Bagley told me what an old villain I’d 
been and how fine you was about it, not wantin’ 
me put in jail, and I says to myself, says I, ‘ If 
ever you touch another drop of booze, jmu’re a 
worse scoundrel than even Bagley takes you for; 
and he thinks you’re next to the devil.’ So I quit 


154 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

drinkin’. Ain’t touched a drop since, and ain’t 
never goin’ to touch another. But that didn’t 
make it right with you. You done the finest thing 
I ever heard of when you went overboard after me, 
and I just can’t sleep for worryin’ how I’m goin’ 
to make it up to you. So you see you’ve just got 
to let me help you with them shells.” 

Hawley’s voice had grown husky and his eyes 
were actually moist before he stopped talking. 
There was no doubting his sincerity. 

Alec threw down his oar and sprang toward him. 
“ Don’t you bother about that another minute,” he 
said, holding out his hand, which the sailor pressed 
warmly. “ I’m glad you are no longer angry at 
me, and that you want to be my friend. And if 
you really want to help with the shells. I’ll be more 
than glad. But you must let me pay you when I 
am able.” 

“Now don’t you ever say another word to me 
about pay,” said Hawley, clearing his throat and 
seizing an 05^ster shovel. “ We’ll just consider the 
matter settled. And I’m much obliged to you. 
Y^ou’ve done me a mighty good turn. I won’t have 
to worry no more about you out here in the dark- 
ness all alone.” And he fell to shoveling oysters 
as fast as he could. 

The winter continued open, and the fleet worked 
with unusual regularity. There were not many 
days when the weather was too rough for dredging. 
So the shells accumulated fast. In a little while 
Alec was able to buy his portable motor. With the 


AN UNLOOKED-FOR FRIEND 


165 


aid of that and with Hawley to assist him, he could 
care for his shells in a very short time. 

“ It’s almost too bad we don’t have more shells,” 
he said to Hawley one day. 

“ Git ’em! ” said the sailor. ‘‘ You kin. There 
ain’t anybody round here won’t give ’em to you if 
you ask, I reckon.” 

“ I was willing to take old Pete’s shells and a 
few more,” said Alec, “ but I wouldn’t want to put 
the other collectors out of business.” 

“ What’s that to you? They’d put you out of 
business in a minute if they dared.” 

“ Just the same, it doesn’t seem fair. I can’t 
adopt their standards. I’ve got to stick to my 
own.” 

Before many days elapsed, Alec had another op- 
portunity to decide what standards he would fol- 
low. One of his competitors came to him and 
offered to pay him twenty-five cents a basket for 
the rattlers in his pile of shells. 

“ You’d be getting eight times as much for the 
rattlers as you would for the shells, and there’d 
likely be a basket or two a night in such a big pile 
of shells. That’d be twenty-five to fifty cents clear 
velvet every night.” 

Alec was suspicious. ‘‘ What do you want them 
for? ” he asked. 

“ To eat, of course. We can’t make enough col- 
lecting shells to buy good oysters. These is all 
right, if we eat ’em soon.” 

“ I’ll think it over,” said Alec. 


156 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

When the man was gone, he saw at once the 
absurdity of the thing. There were only two or 
three shell collectors to eat the oysters. Only one 
of them had a family. With Alec’s shells they 
would have access to all the shells in the place. If 
they could get a basket or two of rattlers from his 
shells, there must be a number of baskets among 
all the shells — several bushels in fact. It wouldn’t 
be possible for them to eat all the oysters. 

“ There’s something crooked about this,” said 
Alec. Then he thought of what Hawley had told 
him of the enmity the other shell collectors had 
toward him. He decided to ask Hawley about the 
matter. 

“ Jim,” he said, when he next saw his helper, “ old 
Wallace offered to buy all our rattlers. Said he 
wanted them to eat. What do you suppose he’s up 
to?” 

“ Don’t know,” replied Hawley, frowning, “ but 
you can bet it ain’t for no good purpose. Why, 
that old rip’s so crooked he can’t even walk straight. 
You just leave it to me. I’ll find out about it.” 

Three nights later Hawley sought out Alec after 
the latter had tumbled into his bed on the Bertha B, 
“ I know what them rips is up to,” he said. “ They’re 
openin’ their rattlers, treatin’ ’em over-night in soda, 
and sellin’ ’em in cans.” 

“They are!” cried Alec. “Selling them as 
Maurice River Cove oysters? ” 

“ Surest thing you know.” 

< “ If they do much of that, they’ll knock the 


AN UNLOOKED-FOE FEIEND 


167 


oyster business into a cocked hat. Anybody 
that eats one of those things and sees the label 
‘ Maurice River Cove Oysters,’ will never want to 
taste another.” 

“ Exactly what I reckon,” said big Jim Hawley. 

“ I’ll tell the shipper about this at once,” said 
Alec. 

He glanced at his watch. “ Exactly nine- 
thirty,” he said. “ The captain will be listening to 
Pittsburgh if he’s at home.” 

He turned to his wireless telephone, threw over 
his switch, and began to speak. “ 3ADH calling 
3ARM,” he called. There was no reply. Again 
he called. 

Then his receivers began to vibrate. ‘‘ 3ARM 
answering 3ADH,” came the message. 

“ Hello, Captain,” he telephoned. “ This is Alec. 
We have found something going on here that I 
want to tell you about at once. Can you come 
down? ” 

‘‘Yes. Are you in a hurry? ” 

“ No. Any time to-night will do.” 

“I’ll come just as soon as this music’s done. 
Good-bye.” 

An hour later the shipper, the skipper, Alec, and 
big Hawley were in conference in the cabin of the 
Bertha B, Next day Captain Rumford called a 
meeting of all the shippers at Bivalve. The con- 
ference decided to put an end at once to the existing 
system of shell collecting. 

“ We’ve had enough of this haphazard method,” 


168 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 


said one shipper. “ Let us give all our shells to one 
man and hold him responsible for their proper col- 
lection and disposition. Then we shall not have to 
worry about our scows any longer, and there won’t 
be any of this crooked work going on to ruin the 
oyster business. It seems to me we couldn’t do 
better than to turn the whole shell business over to 
that young chap of Cap’n Rumford’s. He’s a 
clean, energetic boy, and he’ll take care of the shells 
right. With all our shells to handle, there will be 
enough in it for him to give his entire time to it.” 

“And what do you think I’m going to do if you 
take away the best young fellow I ever had in my 
employ? ” asked Captain Rumford. 

“ That’s your lookout,” said his fellow shipper. 
“ The oystermen’s association is just as keen to get 
a good man as you are to keep one.” 

Captain Rumford himself laid the proposition 
before Alec. The latter was dumfounded. “ Give 
me twenty-four hours to think it over,” he said. 

It was a crisis in Alec’s life. It was an oppor- 
tunity and yet it was not the sort of opportunity he 
welcomed. It would take him away from the direct 
line he had marked out for himself. Then, too, if 
he became a shell collector only, he would have no 
money coming to him until the spring planting 
season, and he did not see how he could get along 
without some regular income. Finally, he was re- 
luctant to leave the employ of Captain Rumford. 

He had almost decided not to accept the offer, 
when he thought of Hawley. “Why, he could 


AN UNLOOKED-FOE FEIEND 


159 


collect most of those shells himself, if he worked at 
it all day,’’ thought Alec. “ He can get around so 
fast with the little motor that he might be able to 
do it all himself. Now, how can we arrange it? ” 

He thought over the matter a long time. Before 
he fell asleep he had decided what to do. Next 
morning he sought Hawley on the latter’s ship 
the instant he was up. 

“ Jim,” he said, “ the oystermen want me to take 
all their shells. I’d like to do it. There would be 
a nice profit in it, but I can’t very well give up my 
job on the Bertha B and go to collecting shells on 
nothing a week. Now if you would go into part- 
nership with me ” 

“ On nothing a week? ” laughed the big sailor. 

Alec joined in the laugh. “ Looks as though 
that’s what I want, doesn’t it? But listen, Jim. 
Here’s my plan. You stay here and handle the 
shells. I will be on hand to help you every after- 
noon. With the motor in our boat we can handle 
them all easily. I’ll draw my pay on the Bertha B 
and give you ten dollars each week. That isn’t 
much, but it will keep you until we sell the shells. 
Then you can repay me from your share of the 
proceeds. I’ve been figuring out how many we’ll 
have, and there’ll be enough to bring us both a good 
profit for all the time and money we put into it. 
What do you think of it? ” 

‘‘ If it will help you,” said Hawley, ‘‘ you just 
bet I’ll do it.” 

‘‘ It’ll help us both.” 


160 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOB 

“ Then that settles it. Here’s to the new firm, 
‘ Cunningham and Hawley, shell merchants.’ ” 
And turning to the table, Hawley poured out 
drinks for them both. But it was only coffee. 

“ Shall we have a sign painted? ” he laughed. 



CHAPTER XIV 


THE CORNER-STONE THAT ALEC FOUND 

N OW that Alec and Jim got all the shells from 
all the shippers, their pile grew with unbe- 
lievable rapidity. Although the number of shells 
had increased so greatly, yet big Jim Hawley was 
almost always able to handle the entire day’s harvest 
himself. The powerful little motor shot his boat 
from point to point with great speed ; and the sailor 
himself was so strong and powerful that he could 
shovel the shells out of his boat while most other 
men would have been thinking about it. Thus it 
happened that Alec seldom had to help his partner, 
when the Bertha B made fast for the day. 

But Alec was not one to waste his time. When- 
ever Jim did not need him, Alec hustled up to the 
shipper’s office and helped with the clerical work. 
To his delight. Captain Rumford finally procured 
a typewriter, the rubber stamps, and some other 
office equipment suggested by Alec. With the aid 
of these and the assistance Alec was able to give 
him. Captain Rumford now easily performed the 
office work that had previously been such a burden 
to him. When Sailor Hawley saw the situation, 
and realised that Akc had a good chance for promo- 
161 


162 


THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 


tion if he could be regular with the office work, he 
told Alec that the shell collections had fallen off 
so much he would not need any help during the 
remainder of the season. Perhaps he told the truth. 

Alec, at any rate, now felt free to give Captain 
Rumford his time every afternoon. Usually the 
skipper was able to set Alec ashore by half-past 
three o’clock. In the two hours that remained be- 
fore Captain Rumford drove home, the captain 
dictated answers to all his letters, Alec taking the 
dictation direct on his typewriter. He had to do 
this, as he had never studied stenography. Often, 
now, he wished he had. But he had never foreseen 
the need of it. His deficiency taught him a good 
lesson, however. 

“ It just goes to show that you never can tell 
what will come useful,” said Alec. “ I’ll worry 
along all right without stenography, I suppose, but 
you can just bet that in this oyster game I’m going 
to know everything I possibly can pick up that has 
the slightest bearing on the business. I’m not go- 
ing to wake up after I’m a shipper and find that 
there is something about my business that I don’t 
know.” 

As the winter wore on, work declined at the 
oyster piers and men were laid off. Many beds 
had long ago been dredged clean of their oysters. 
Boat after boat was made fast for the season. The 
fleet dwindled almost daily in numbers. Then 
there came periods of very rough weather, when all 
the boats remained at their piers. Those days Alec 


THE CORNEE-STONE THAT ALEC FOUND 163 


spent wholly in the office. So his pay continued 
without interruption. Better still it increased. As 
a deck-hand he had been getting $17.50 a week. 
The shipper increased his stipend to $20 a week. 

But better even than the increase in pay was the 
opportunity that came to visit the captain’s home. 
For often at the week-end Alec was now asked to 
accompany the shipper home. Usually he merely 
spent the evening there, returning to Bivalve by 
trolley. But once in a wffiile he was asked to spend 
Sunday with the Rumfords. Elsa, of course, hailed 
his visits with delight. And it was not long before 
Mrs. Rumford was almost as glad to see Alec as 
her daughter was. About the only welcome Alec 
ever got from the head of the house was the state- 
ment the latter made, when he ushered the lad in 
at the door, “ Well, mother, here’s this Alec Cun- 
ningham again. He pestered me so to bring him 
along that I hadn’t the heart to refuse.” 

Of course, there wasn’t a word of truth in it, but 
just the same it always embarrassed Alec a little 
bit, much to the delight of Elsa. Probably that 
was why the shipper teased the lad, for Elsa was the 
apple of his eye. To please her, he would have 
done things far more foreign to his nature than to 
crack a joke. 

Probably the reason Elsa was so fond of Alec 
was because he treated her as an absolute equal. 
There was no hint of condescension on his part when 
he talked with her, no suggestion of superiority. 
He never intimated that because she was a girl she 


164 THE YOUNG WIKELESS OPERATOR 

shouldn’t do this or that thing that he did. Like 
the majority of American girls of to-day, Elsa was 
independent, sensible, thoughtful, and able. So 
her tastes and desires were remarkably like those of 
any other normal person of her age and training. 
She liked sailing, tennis, swimming, basket-ball, 
motoring, camping, and similar sports, and was 
quite as intelligent about them as most boys would 
have been. With similar likes himself, Alec under- 
stood her feelings exactly and treated her much as 
he would have treated a boy chum of his own age. 
Though he was doubtless a little more chivalrous 
toward her than he would have been to one 
of his boy friends, he did not carry his chivalry to 
the point where it interfered with their friendship. 
So the two became very good chums, indeed. It 
was a matter of delight to them both that Alec was 
able to help her with many a knotty point in her 
studies. In every way the two seemed fashioned 
to be the best of friends. 

To Alec the privilege of coming to the captain’s 
house meant more than he could have told. Alec 
and his father had lived with a very estimable fam- 
ily. Here at Bivalve he missed greatly that home 
influence. His companions on the Bertha B and 
at the piers he had come to esteem greatly; yet they 
were mosth^ rough workingmen, uncouth in speech 
and manner, though pure gold at heart. Alec was 
at an age and in a situation when he especially 
needed the refining influence of a good home. He 
got it in Captain Rumford’s home. 


THE COENER-STOKE THAT ALEC FOUND 165 


Just why Captain Rumford chose to take Alec 
to his home, the inscrutable oyster shipper never 
said. But he never did anything without a reason. 
Outsiders who knew about the matter attached far 
more significance to it than Alec possibly could. 
Also they understood much better than Alec did 
how fortunate a lad he was. With the leading 
oyster shipper at Bivalve back of him, Alec’s future 
was already secure if he chose to become an oyster- 
planter himself. 

Alec, fortunately, never once thought of the mat- 
ter in that light. He didn’t even know that the 
shipper was behind him. In his own mind he was 
simply an employee whom the shipper, for some 
reason or other, had come to like. And he meant 
to do everything in his power to retain Captain 
Rumford’s good-will. 

It pleased Alec immensely that he had been able 
to help his benefactor so much with his office work. 
The changes that had been made seemed to lighten 
the work daily. Yet the changes already made 
were not all that Alec hoped to make. He wanted 
a better system of filing and keeping records. 
Every time he looked at the dusty pigeonholes in 
the old rack above the captain’s desk, each stuffed 
full of miscellaneous contents, his fingers itched to 
tear the whole thing out and install some modern 
filing cases. But he knew he must bide his time 
for that. 

Very late in the winter, or very early in the 
spring, when the oyster business was getting toward 


166 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

its lowest ebb and the office work was light, Alec 
asked permission to clean the office. The shipper 
looked at him in amazement. 

“ What for? ” he asked. 

“ Perhaps we could arrange things in a way that 
would expedite our work,” replied Alec, watching 
his boss out of the corner of his eye. 

“Um!” grunted the shipper. “It’s likely! 
Why, I’ve done business with this office just as it is 
for more than thirty years and never found it neces- 
sary yet to change things.” 

But in the end, he consented. Alec moved their 
two desks somewhat, so as to get better light on 
them and shifted a few other things. But the main 
thing he wanted to do was to clear out those dusty 
old pigeonholes, and get the contents arranged bet- 
ter, So he began to take the contents from pigeon- 
hole after pigeonhole, laying the things he took out 
in orderly little piles and trying to rearrange and 
classify them. But when he reached the second 
row in the rack, he suddenly lost all interest in his 
work. Out of the pigeonhole came a familiar- 
looking pamphlet, like dozens of government bul- 
letins Alec had seen at the high school in Central 
City. Alec was about to drop it on the desk when 
the title caught his eye. It was “Aids to Success- 
ful Oyster-Culture.” The bulletin had recently 
been issued by the New Jersey Experiment station. 

“ Where did you get this? ” cried Alec, all afire 
with interest, 

“ What? ” said the shipper, glancing up from his 


THE COENEE-STONE THAT ALEC FOUND 167 

work. Then, after seeing what it was, “ Oh! That! 
Why, that’s something the state got out. Some- 
body sent me a copy.” 

“ Is it interesting? ” asked Alec. 

“ To tell the truth, I never had time to read it. 
I stuck it in that pigeonhole and there it’s been ever 
since.” 

Alec looked aghast. “ Never read it! ” he cried. 
“ Would you be willing to lend it to me? I’ll take 
good care of it and be sure to return it.” 

“ Take it and keep it. I don’t want it.” 

Alec folded the bulletin and placed it in his 
pocket as though it were rarest treasure. Into his 
mind flashed the Master’s words: “ The stone which 
the builders rejected is become the head of the 
corner.” 

“ Who knows? ” he said to himself, “ but this may 
be the very corner-stone for the structure I intend 
to build? It may be the very thing I have been 
searching for. My entire future may depend upon 
what I read in this bulletin.” 


CHAPTER XV 


A NEW LIGHT 

E ven a cursory examination of the bulletin 
told Alec he was right in thinking that the 
little pamphlet held the secrets for which he had 
been searching. Here, in this unconsidered little 
publication that had been eonsigned to the oblivion 
of a dusty pigeonhole by a man who was beginning 
to fall behind the times, was an open sesame to the 
treasure-house of the deep. Alec wondered how 
many more of these bulletins were likewise resting 
in dusty pigeonholes. He was sure there must be 
many of them similarly tucked out of sight, for the 
bulletin, which was the very first of a series planned 
by the state to set forth the knowledge of the oyster 
that had been aceumulated by the scientists of the 
world, plainly said that the position of the oyster- 
planter of to-day was very similar to that of the 
land farmer of fifty years ago, before the applica- 
tion of scientific methods to agriculture. If that 
were true, Alec knew that little heed would be given 
to the publieation by many of the oyster-planters. 
They were too old to change. The situation gave 
him the opportunity to become a pioneer and, he 
firmly believed, to reap the rewards of the pioneer. 

m 


A NEW LIGHT 


169 


The quality that distinguished Alec’s mind from 
the mind of the average lad of his years was that of 
understanding or comprehension. At school he 
had never won unusual grades ; yet he had been an 
unusual student. Indeed, it would have been re- 
markable had a lad of his wide interests gained 
high marks. His participation in athletics, his 
accomplishments with the wireless, his devotion to 
nature and out-of-door pleasures, and his efforts 
along many lines not directly connected with his 
studies, practically precluded the possibility of his 
being an honor student. Yet no winner of high 
grades ever understood what he studied better than 
Alec comprehended the work he covered. Very 
early Alec had imbibed the idea that the purpose 
of schooling is understanding, not grades, ability to 
accomplish, and not diplomas. So he had been 
more or less indifferent to the marks he received, but 
very particular to grasp what he studied. To an 
unusual degree he had gained the essence of educa- 
tion, w^hich is the ability to think. He saw facts as 
they were, he drew correct deductions from these 
facts, and he consequently came to truthful con- 
clusions. 

Nothing whatever could have meant as much to 
Alec, situated as he now was, as did this double 
ability to understand facts and to draw right con- 
clusions from them. He was just starting his life- 
work. He was building his career. He was erect- 
ing a structure to last a lifetime and perhaps many 
generations longer. He must fight for all he got. 


170 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 

There would be few who cared whether he built well 
or poorly, and fewer still to help him. His alone 
was the responsibility for the quality of the job he 
was doing. What he had told Captain Rumford 
was true: he wanted to know, not only about what 
oyster-planters had done and were doing, but also 
what they would be doing in future. Alec had 
always been like that. He had always wanted to 
know the whole truth. 

As he read the bulletin in his hands, he told him- 
self that he was a fortunate lad, indeed. If oyster- 
farming is to-day just where land farming was half 
a century ago, he told himself, he had become an 
oysterman at exactly the right moment. He had 
had a great deal more schooling than most of the 
men now in the business. He could learn the truth 
more easily. He had the advantage of knowing 
nothing whatever about the oyster business, so that 
he had no prejudices to hamper him, no precon- 
ceived ideas to hold him back. He was free to learn 
the truth, and when he found it, to act accordingly. 
He could make all his jDlans upon a scientific basis. 
He could be a pioneer in scientific oyster-culture. 
And like the farmers who sprayed their fruit-trees 
while their neighbors laughed at them, and the 
dairymen who began raising blooded stock while 
their neighbors ridiculed them, he would reap his 
reward, the same as those intelligent orchardists 
and cattlemen had done. 

Perhaps Alec did not actually think the situation 
out in such detail, but the underlying idea he felt 


A NEW LIGHT 


171 


very strongly. He had come into the oyster busi- 
ness at a time when it was about to undergo a 
change. Not all the oyster-shippers, he felt sure, 
would toss aside this valuable compendium of in- 
formation as thoughtlessly as Captain Rumford had 
done. F ew of them, perhaps, were as well qualified 
as he himself was to carry out the suggestions made 
in the book; for he had studied biology. He knew 
how to use the microscope. He was familiar with 
the work that would be required of the scientific 
oysterman as suggested by the bulletin. 

For this marvelous little publication told him, not 
only about the life-history and habits of oysters, but 
also how and where they could best be raised. An 
open sesame, indeed, was this book. For Alec had 
long understood that the present method of oyster- 
culture was largely a game of blind man’s buff. 

When he had asked the skipper how the oyster- 
men knew good grounds from poor ones, the captain 
had replied, “ They don’t. All they can do is to 
shell ’em and see if they get a set.” 

That was the doctrine and belief of an experi- 
enced and able captain of an oyster-boat. Yet here 
in his very hands Alec had proof that an intelligent 
person could discover where the good grounds were, 
easily and cheaply. It wasn’t necessary to own a 
ship and buy thousands of bushels of shells and 
employ expensive help to spread them in order to 
find out whether a given place would make good 
grounds or not. With very little equipment Alec 
knew he could test the matter as well as anybody. 


172 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

He almost cried aloud with sheer joy. For though 
the planted beds covered 30,000 acres, and doubt- 
less included many and perhaps most of the good 
grounds, Alec did not doubt that there still re- 
mained unstaked areas that would make as good 
oyster-beds as any already “ stuck up.” His job 
was to find them while he was getting together the 
money to buy his equipment. 

When Alec had gone hastil}’^ through the bulletin 
once, he again began to read it, this time slowly and 
painstakingly. He found that Skipper Bagley’s 
assertion that one oyster produces millions of little 
oysters was not only true, but was almost an under- 
statement, so incredible was the actual number, esti- 
mated by the scientists at sixteen to sixty millions, 
depending upon the size, age, and vigor of the 
spawning oyster. And it was equally true, as the 
skipper had said, that one could not see newly- 
formed oysters with the naked eye; for, even at two 
weeks of age, when they are about ready to attach 
to something, they were still scarcely visible. 

What fairly astounded Alec was the fact that 
each tiny oyster larva has a foot, which is later 
absorbed into the body when there is no longer need 
for it. For, contrary to what the skipper had told 
him, the oyster fry not only have the power to 
move about in the water, but they do not die at 
once if they sink to the bottom and find no suitable 
place of attachment. With its tiny foot, each 
microscopic oyster is able to move about on the 
bottom, and does move about, a few inches at a 


A NEW LIGHT 


173 


time, seeking a place of attachment. It has other 
methods of locomotion as well. Hair-like growths 
that act like propellers, give it the power to move 
slowly through the waters. Thus it creeps and 
swims, searching here and there until it finds the 
resting-place it is after. Then it makes fast to the 
place selected, and its shell rapidly enlarges. In 
ten hours* time it has become as large as a grain of 
pepper. 

And the bulletin’s suggestions as to shelling 
oyster-beds, AJec noted, were directly at variance 
with established practices. For Alec knew that 
ordinarily the shells were spread broadcast, in an 
effort to cover as much of the bottom as possible, 
whereas the bulletin advised the planting of shells 
in windrows, placed transversely to the current, and 
piled to the depth of ten inches or even a foot, so 
as to afford more exposed surfaces than could be 
offered by shells broadcasted and lying flat in the 
mud. For now Alec learned, to his astonishment, 
that the tiny oysters do not necessarily drop down- 
ward in their search for a place of attachment, but 
also rise upward. And since sediment does not 
collect to any great extent on the under surface of 
bodies held in the water, the under sides will afford 
the cleaner places of attachment. In proof of this, 
the bulletin showed several shells that had been sus- 
pended in the water for five days during the spawn- 
ing season. Though they were clean when put into 
the water, enough sediment had collected in that 
short time to prevent the attachment of a single 


174 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

spat to their u^^per surfaces, while one shell alone 
had seventy-three spats attached to its under sur- 
face at the end of five days. 

“ Why, that’s just common-sense,” cried Alec. 
“ Of course an under surface stays cleaner in the 
water than an upper surface. Anybody knows 
that. And shells heaped in windrows will present a 
thousand times as many under surfaces as shells 
thrown flat in the mud. You bet I won’t forget 
that.” 

There were many other things that astonished 
Alec. He learned that spawning activities are con- 
trolled almost wholly by temperature, oysters never 
spawning before the water reaches a temperature 
of at least 68 degrees and generally 70 degrees, 
while spawning activity increases with the increase 
in the temperature of the water. Alec saw at once 
that there might thus be great seasonal variation in 
the amount of spawn produced, and that a cold, 
cloudy summer might result in little or no oyster 
fry being spawned, while a hot, cloudless spring 
and summer, particularly if the wind did not stir up 
the water too much, would almost certainly result 
in a tremendous output of oyster larvse. 

“ Looks to me,” said Alec, with characteristic 
insight, ‘‘ as though it wasn’t worth going to the 
expense of shelling a bed if it happens to be a very 
cold year,” and he was pleased when in reading 
farther he found that the bulletin confirmed his 
judgment. 

Furthermore Alec knew that deep water would 


A NEW LIGHT 


176 


remain cold while shallow water grew warm. And 
as the oyster remains practically at the temperature 
of the water surrounding it, he saw that here was 
another problem to be considered in the greatest 
of all the problems that he believed lay before him. 
That was the problem of finding a good oyster 
ground. For Alec had no hope of ever being able 
to buy a ground alreadj^ established. Within a 
very few days such an established bed had changed 
hands, and the price paid by the purchaser was 
$25,000. Of course this was a big bed, but Alec 
knew that any productive bed at all would command 
a high price. What he must do when he became a 
planter was to stake out new grounds that he could 
get from the state merely for the annual rental of 
seventy-five cents an acre. 

To procure such a bed was a simple enough 
matter, but to procure a bed that would be pro- 
ductive, where the planting of shells would result 
in a good set of spat, was quite another matter. As 
the skijDper had told him, it was commonly believed 
that all the good beds had already been “ stuck up.” 
That fact had been the most discouraging thing 
Alec had had to face, as he thought over his plans 
for the future. But now light was coming to him. 
One of the factors he must consider in the selection 
of his grounds was water temperature. Depth was 
an important factor, and so, too, was the move- 
ment of the water, for turbulent water meant cold 
water, while still water meant warm water. 

When Alec studied that portion of his book that 


176 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

dealt with tides and currents, he fairly hugged him- 
self for joy. Now he knew how to determine the 
other factors in the problem of locating his beds. 
For the bulletin told him that with the ebb and 
flow of the tide certain main currents are produced 
over an oyster-bed which are quite definite in direc- 
tion and which vary but little from year to year, 
while the configuration of the shore and the bottom 
produces smaller currents and eddies in conjunction 
with these main currents. And these currents 
would have very much to do with the matter of lo- 
cating an oyster-bed. 

For an abrupt ridge, or raised area of the bottom, 
will produce one or more eddies, thus resulting in a 
region of slack water. Along the margin of every 
well defined channel, areas occur where the water 
lags behind that in the channel itself. And these 
areas are often so sharply marked off that one may 
follow them without difficulty for miles, owing to 
the appearance of the water. “Any one who has 
noticed these ‘ slicks,’ ” said the bulletin, “ has 
noticed the foam and surface debris which collect 
there.” 

Many a time had Alec noted these slick stretches 
of water and wondered at them, seeking a reason 
for their smoothness. Here it was explained. But 
the full connection between a slick and an oyster- 
bed below it was not apparent to Alec until he read, 
“ The oyster larvse, though free-swimming, move 
so slowly that they are carried about by the cur- 
rents much as grains of sand would be. They, 


A NEW LIGHT 


177 


therefore, tend to collect in these regions of slicks 
and eddies, along with a host of other microscopic 
plants and animals. In such places there occurs 
a heavier set of spat than elsewhere in that neigh- 
borhood. Find the oyster larvee in the water, then 
get your shells under them.” 

There was the secret Alec had been searching for. 
Now he knew how to go about the selection of his 
oyster grounds. “ Find the oyster larvse in the 
water and get your shells under them.” 

One difficulty alone seemed to present itself. As 
a deck-hand he would be busy until the end of June, 
and by that time he feared spawning might be 
nearly ended. How could he do his duty to his 
employer and at the same time study the waters in 
the oyster-beds as he saw he would need to do? 
But he was reassured as he read further and found 
that in the Delaware Bay and other deep waters in 
New Jersey, spawning is a more or less continuous 
process, running from the first of July to the latter 
part of August. 

Not even on that first morning at Bivalve, 
when he suddenly found his condition changed 
from that of a shivering, hungry, penniless 
lad, to a situation where he had a warm place to 
sleep, plenty of good food to eat, and a generous 
wage coming to him daily, did Alec feel more 
elated than he felt now. He had had a very rough 
experience. He had gone through an unforeseen 
crisis, when all the supports had been knocked from 
under his young life ^nd he had suddenly had to 


178 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 


stand wholly on his own feet. At first he had had 
to choose what he would do merely to exist. Later 
he had had to decide what he meant to make of 
himself. Even when chance had put him on ship- 
board, and circumstances had almost seemed to 
drive him to choose oystering as his calling, the 
situation had seemed hopelessly difficult, so much 
of both knowledge and capital were necessary, and 
both seemed so hard to acquire. And now, here 
in his very hand, he suddenly found the map that 
showed him his path clear and distinct. 

No wonder he cried aloud for joy. Now he 
knew, not only where he was going, but also how 
to get there. To be sure, it would take him years 
to attain his goal. But that would have been true, 
no matter what he attem];)ted. There was nothing 
discouraging about that. There was nothing dis- 
couraging about any aspect of his situation. He 
had a steady job and was saving money, even 
though half his wages went to support his partner 
in the shell business. The shell venture was certain 
to net him a generous return. With his father’s 
gravestone paid for, Alec had practically no ex- 
penses, save for clothes and incidentals, and these 
were small enough. He had no time for nightly 
diversion at some neighboring town, even had he 
desired it, and he used neither tobacco nor strong 
drink. The clothes he had worn upon his arrival 
were of good cut and material. He had had them 
cleaned and pressed when he got rougher garments 
for his daily labor, and these good clothes would 


A NEW LIGHT 


179 


last for a long time. So he could save a goodly 
sum each week even on half of his wages. If he 
continued to work hard and take advantage of every 
opportunity that offered, he knew his income was 
certain to increase and his savings multiply accord- 
ingly. No wonder Alec felt jubilant. No wonder 
he felt as though he were already standing at the 
wheel of Old Honesty, the ship of his dreams. No 
wonder, either, that he could not discern the rocks 
that rose ahead with evil portent. 


CHAPTER XVI 


THE PLANTING SEASON BEGINS 

W EEKS passed. The oyster business grew 

duller and duller. More and more ships 
were laid up for the winter. F or days at a time the 
Bertha B lay fast at her pier. To a lad of Alec’s 
energetic, impatient nature, it was a trying period. 
There was so little that he could do. From bow- 
sprit to taffrail he already knew every rope and 
stick and implement on an oyster-boat, and 
the uses of them all. He knew the various 
parts of the engine and comprehended their func- 
tions. He had already learned how to splice a rope, 
reef a sail, bend on a line, cast a hawser, and do a 
thousand other tasks aboard ship. Ashore, he had 
inquired into every phase of the oyster business he 
could think of. Like Alexander, he sighed for 
more worlds to conquer; for it seemed to Alec as 
though there was nothing new left for him to do. 
He felt like a soldier marking time. He was going 
through the motions, perhaps, but not advancing. 
And to Alec’s impatient nature, that meant that 
he was wasting his time, throwing away the only 
capital he possessed. 


180 


THE PLANTING SEASON BEGINS 181 

In reality his time was far from wasted. Though 
he did not realize it, he was continually picking up 
knowledge that was to be of use to him. Always 
he was on the alert. Ever he was asking questions. 
Continually he was weighing this and that practice 
in his mind. And from night to night, as he sat 
in the warm cabin of the Bertha B, talking with 
the skipper and Joe, both of whom lived aboard 
with him, he absorbed a vast fund of useful and 
practical information. 

Of this fact Alec was hardly conscious. To him 
it seemed as though he were merely killing time by 
listening to the engaging yarns of the skipper; for 
Captain Bagley, like all real sailors, could tell the 
most fascinating stories of the sea. But through 
the medium of these stories Alec unconsciously 
picked up a great deal of information about the 
waters he would have to navigate as an oysterman, 
about the currents, the tides, the winds, the storms, 
the calms — in short about the very things he needed 
to know. Whenever he heard the least thing that 
was likely to be of use to him, he unconsciously 
singled it out and put it away in the storehouse of 
his memor5\ 

For to Alec, as to every real thinker, it was given 
to learn through the experiences of others quite as 
much as through his own experiences. Indeed, 
Alec early had seen the folly of learning through 
his o^vn experience if he could possibly learn 
through that of another. It might be true, he knew, 
that experience is the best teacher. But he quickly 


182 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 

saw that he is a fool who learns only through his 
own experienee. So, although the time seemed to 
drag, and he chafed under the enforced idleness, 
Alec was really acquiring something worth while 
all the time. Any one does who is really desirous 
of learning. 

But on one account Alec was not sorry because 
things were so dull. He saw a great deal of Elsa. 
Alec’s bright, cheerful ways had endeared him to 
the entire Rumford family. The shipper welcomed 
him to his home because he felt that he would rather 
have Elsa associate with Alec than with most of 
the lads he knew. The others might be all right or 
they might not be. Alec was true as steel. In a 
hundred ways the shipper had seen him tested. He 
knew about Alec. 

Had Alec realized these things he would have 
been both gratified and puzzled — gratified to know 
that the captain really did think so well of him, yet 
puzzled to know why it was so. For in some ways 
Alec was singularly childlike. At the captain’s 
home or in the captain’s presence he had not acted 
in any way different from the way he always acted. 
What Alec did not realize was how fine at heart 
he really was. But though Alec did not compre- 
hend these things about himself, the shipper under- 
stood them readily enough. And he knew, as well 
as he knew anything, that if he himself lived his 
allotted time, he would see the day when Alec stood 
at the very top of the oyster business. It is just as 
impossible to keep down a lad like Alec, as it is 


THE PLANTING SEASON BEGINS 


183 


to dam back forever thie waters of a stream. Either 
may be held back for a time. In the end both will 
break through. 

One thing these days of idleness did for Alec 
that he did not comprehend at all. They gave him 
to the last measure the full cooperation and sym- 
pathy of Elsa. In an intangible way that neither 
understood or appreciated their relationship under- 
went a very real change. 

By this time Alec's plans for the future were 
beginning to take tangible form. His ideas had 
crystallized. They were concrete enough to talk 
about in exact terms. And Alec wanted to talk 
about them. He wanted to discuss them with some 
one who could comprehend and sympathize with his 
plans, and yet criticize them in a friendly, intelligent 
way. Jim Hawley, though big of heart, hadn't the 
kind of mind to grasp what Alec was aiming at; 
Captain Bagley would have been indifferent to the 
matter; and Captain Rumford would have regarded 
Alec's plans as the veriest rubbish. Besides these 
three, there were no men in the oyster fleet with 
whom Alec would have been willing to discuss his 
plans. 

Elsa met every requirement. When Alec told 
her what was in his mind she comprehended exactly 
what he meant, she sympathized fully with his posi- 
tion, she passed judgment on his schemes with the 
friendliest sort of criticism. It was exactly the 
sort of help Alec needed most. It gave him in- 
creased confldence in his own plans and stiffened his 


184 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOK 

courage. He knew that Elsa understood him and 
sympathized with him fully and he needed such 
sympathetic understanding and encouragement if 
he were to win through. 

As the days lengthened and winter drew near to 
spring, there was more activity in the oyster fleet. 
Planters began to inquire for shells. Farmers be- 
gan to bring loads of stakes with which to mark the 
oyster-beds afresh. Boats were overhauled. Pro- 
pellers were removed from power craft or boxed in 
such a way as to render them useless, for the law 
prohibited any power boats from going on the 
natural oyster-beds. Nothing but sails could be 
used in dredging seed-oysters. 

Then at last came the planting season itself, the 
great event in the oj^sterman’s year. From far and 
wide a huge fleet assembled. Every boat that could 
still carry a sail and drag a dredge joined the 
assembly. The river was fairly jammed with 
oyster-boats. At every pier ship after ship made 
fast until the rows of boats extended far out into 
the stream. The piers themselves took on new life. 
Now they fairly hummed with activity. Ships were 
freshly provisioned. New supplies of all sorts were 
brought aboard. Chains and dredges were exam- 
ined and stowed in the holds. Great crews were 
recruited, double or triple the size of the crews 
ordinarily carried. From miles around came every 
able-bodied man to join the fleet. Ships were con- 
tinually passing to and from 03 ^ster-beds, where new 
stakes were being put down and everything possible 


THE PLANTING SEASON BEGINS 185 

done in advance to get ready for the actual plant- 
ing. 

Then came the great day, the first of May. On 
the afternoon before, ship after ship cast loose and 
headed for the oyster grounds. Now Alec saw a 
sight that stirred his blood and made his heart beat 
faster. Down the river went the fleet, ship after 
ship, dozens, scores, hundreds of them, heeling in 
the wind, their sails shining in the sun, like a won- 
drous flock of huge, white birds. 

Like schoolboys on a lark were the men aboard 
these ships. Like Alec, they had chafed at their 
enforced idleness. The feeling of spring was in 
their blood. The spirit of fun was abroad among 
them. Laughter rose from every deck. Across 
the water voice called to voice. Old friends greeted 
one another across the dancing waves. Skipper 
hailed skipper. To right and left challenges were 
flung, and boat after boat picked up her heels to 
prove her master’s assertion that she was faster than 
her neighbor. A dozen races were staged at once. 

So the fleet proceeded, like a great covey of birds, 
out of the sheltering river and into the open Bay. 
Across the oyster-beds raced the rolling vessels, now 
spread out in wide array, pressing on and on until 
they joined their fellows who had come before, and 
dropped their anchors at the very side of the South- 
west Line, where the state had said, “ Thus far and 
no farther, shalt thou go.” 

Now Alec witnessed a sight that thrilled him as 
few things in all his life had done. Nightfall found 


186 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

practically every ship in the fleet anchored near the 
line. North, east, south, and west of the Bertha B 
oyster-boats lay at rest. Aloft a white light glim- 
mered on every ship. And as the boats moved 
ever so slightly in the gentle swell, these lamps aloft 
swayed slowly back and forth, as though signalling 
one to another. The weather was balmy, the night 
was lighted by a radiant moon. The gentlest of 
breezes sighed through the rigging. The beauty of 
the night drew Alec on deck as irresistibly as a 
powerful magnet draws a piece of steel. For a 
time he stood by the ship’s rail, looking at the gently 
heaving water, studying the swirls in the tide, as 
they shone and sparkled in the moonlight, listening 
to the gentle slap ! slap ! slap ! of the waves against 
the oaken sides of the Bertha B. 

From her cabin, and from the cabins of sister 
ships arose the sound of laughter, the noise of 
raucous voices. In the calm and holy beauty of 
the night they seemed out of place. To Alec’s 
sensitive soul they were as discordant as the rasping 
tones of a horse fiddle. He wanted to get away 
from them, where he could drink in the beauty of 
the scene undisturbed; where he could steep himself 
in the spirit of the night. So he clambered up the 
rigging and perched himself on the crosstrees. 

Now he was like one in a tower. He could see 
far and wide. Beneath him the white ships, huddled 
together, made him think of a flock of sheep, herded 
for the night. And afar off on the dancing water 
Alec saw the laggards of the flock hastening toward 


THE PLANTING SEASON BEGINS 


187 


the fold. Like little white specks they seemed in 
the far distance. Then, as they drew nearer and 
nearer, their sails seemed to grow larger and larger, 
until suddenly they appeared gigantic. With ma- 
jestic flight, like the sweep of darting gulls, they 
bore to right or left, seeking their places of rest. 
Then came the faint splash of anchors, the rattling 
sound of tackle blocks as the great white wings were 
lowered, and presently peace. 

One by one the cabin lamps were doused, until 
only sailing lights shone throughout the fleet. One 
by one the raucous voices were stilled, and peace 
enfolded the nestling ships as a hen hovers above 
her little ones. Still Alec sat in the crosstrees, 
watching the swaying lights, studying the swirling 
waters, peering along the moon’s broad path of 
gold that seemed to lead straight from the little fleet 
to the Shepherd keeping watch above. 

When or how Alec got to bed he never knew. It 
seemed to him as though he had only just turned in 
when he heard Dick punching up the fire. In a 
moment he was afoot, for this was no time for 
laggards. It was well enough to dream in the 
moonlight, when the day’s work was done; but this 
was the time for action, the time to turn his dreams 
into something tangible. For before them lay the 
prize, free for the taking the moment the sun’s ris- 
ing disc should touch the horizon. He who would 
grasp it must be ready. 

Throughout the fleet arose the sounds of prepa- 
ration. Lights glowed in every cabin. Lanterns 


188 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

bobbed on every deck. From every direction came 
the creak of tackle blocks as sails were hoisted. 
Here and there capstans clanked, as enterprising 
skippers hoisted anchor, to jockey for more 
advantageous positions. For the moment the sun 
arose, the entire fleet would sweep over the line in 
the race for the coveted oyster-seed. Some boats 
were heading east and some were going west in the 
hope of bettering their positions. 

As the light increased, the breeze freshened. The 
water began to dance beneath its touch. Over all 
rested a slight haze, intensified here and there, by 
wisps of smoke from cabin fires. And curling up- 
ward from the surface of the Bay, rose little cloud- 
lets of mist or fog. Streaks of color crept into the 
eastern sky, growing, little by little, until the firma- 
ment was a gorgeous, glowing tapestry of gold, shot 
with purple, pink, and orange. 

From every side now rose the rattling of anchor 
chains, the clank of capstans, the creaking of the 
tackle. In increasing numbers the oyster-boats 
spread their wings and slipped away. Soon not a 
ship lay at anchor. Like a mammoth flock of giant 
gulls, the oyster-boats were darting here and there, 
their fresh, white sails shining in the morning glow, 
as they bellied in the wind. Rare, indeed, was the 
sight; rare and wonderful. For hundreds of ships 
were now in motion, the waves foaming white at 
their bows, the spray splashing upward on their 
decks, and in their wakes yeasty patterns of swirling 
W^ter. At every stern stood a silent figure, twirl- 


THE PLANTING SEASON BEGINS 


189 


ing his wheel now this way, now that, watchful of 
the east and the mounting color there. 

Now sweeping near the line, now darting away, 
now weaving in and out among her sister ships, the 
Bertha B skimmed over the waves with the grace 
of a gull, about to swoop on its prey. Her crew 
were on deck, ready to spring to dredge or tackle. 
Her captain stood at his wheel, silent, watchful as 
a hawk. 

Suddenly the fiery rim of the sun peered over 
the edge of the world. A thousand watchful eyes 
beheld it, and a great shout went up from the fleet. 
Over went the rudders, around swung the ships, 
and the entire fleet darted straight for the line that 
marked their goal. 

“ Let go the dredges! ” thundered the skipper, as 
the Bertha B swept over the mark, and a splash 
arose on either side of the boat as the dredges struck 
the waves. 

From hundreds of other craft dredges were fall- 
ing into the sea. With every sail set, the speeding 
oyster-boats tugged at their loads as restive dogs 
straining at the leash. Now there was no engine 
to do the hoisting; but men stood in pairs at the 
winders, ready to reel up the windlasses and lift 
the laden dredge. How they worked! How they 
turned their reels! How the dredges came plung- 
ing over the rollers! How the oysters poured out 
on the decks ! How the nimble fingers flew to cull 
the glistening piles ! How the shovels flashed, and 
the shells glinted in the sun, as strong arms heaved 


190 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

them back into the sea! How the piles of tiny 
oysters grew! 

What a sight it was ! From far and near, from 
east and west, from north and south, from every 
oyster town about the Bay, came scores of boats 
to add their shining sails to the great fleet. Look 
where he would, Alec could see ships sweeping along 
before the breeze, their decks crowded with toiling 
men, bulking high with oj^^sters. Never, as long 
as he lived, would he forget that scene. 

Hour after hour the work went on. Basket by 
basket the piles of oysters grew. The bow was full 
of them. The after deck was buried under them. 
The cabin was hidden by them. Still the work 
went on. The Bertha B sank lower and lower in the 
water, as ton after ton was piled on her deck. 

Suddenly there was a sharp command from the 
skipper. The dredges went overboard no more. 
The Bertha B heeled far over in the wind, swung 
wide to avoid her sister ships, and headed for her 
oyster grounds. Heavily she rode the waves, plow- 
ing bodily through them. Through the fleet she 
sailed, over the Southwest Line, and on to her 
planting grounds. Near and far, other laden ships 
sailed with her. And now she had reached her 
grounds. How the shovels flew, how the tiny 
oysters went splashing into the sea, flung far and 
wide from either side. Back and forth, back and 
forth, sailed the Bertha B, while skilled hands 
spread the precious seed. 

Now her deck was empty. To the last oyster it 


THE PLANTING SEASON BEGINS 


191 


had been cleaned. Sharp about swung the little 
vessel, crowding on all sail, taking advantage of 
every wind, hastening back to the seed grounds. 

Day after day, in rain and in shine, in fog and 
when the sun shone clear, with the wind whistling 
sharp and in days of calm, the Bertha B sailed back 
and forth over the breeding grounds, and to and 
from her planting beds. And every hand aboard of 
her toiled to his utmost. No more did the little vessel 
nightly seek her harbor. No more did the fleet sail 
in and out with each rising and setting of the sun. 
And when the planting was finished, came the shell- 
ing of the grounds, the Bertha B daily bringing 
huge deck loads of shells to scatter on the bottom 
of the beds. 

During the spring planting days Alec learned 
what it meant to sleep in the cradle of the deep. 
Sometimes the moon fell soft on the sleeping waters, 
when he sought his bunk. And again inky clouds 
blotted out the stars, and the wind soughed omi- 
nously through the rigging, or storms whistled past 
the ship’s bare poles, as she wallowed at her anchor 
in the rolling waves. But soon it was all one to 
Alec. He was doing a man’s work. He was toil- 
ing like a Trojan. And neither the lure of the 
moonbeams nor the roar of a storm could long keep 
him from his bunk, once night had come. 

By the end of June, when the planting season was 
over, and the Bertha B for the last time lifted her 
anchor and homeward winged her way, Alec had be- 
come a sailor as well as an oysterman. He had 


192 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

learned a tremendous lot, not only about oysters, 
but also about handling a ship. Once he had 
thought he was a sailor, when he manoeuvred his 
little boat at home. Now he smiled at the memory 
of those earlier efforts. They seemed childish, in- 
deed. For more than once he had been allowed 
to handle the Bertha B as she flew across the Bay. 
And he had picked up a tremendous lot of informa- 
tion about currents, eddies, drifts, shoals, tides, 
slicks, and storms. He was getting his tool-kit 
thoroughly stocked indeed. It was well, for he 
would soon have need of all the skill and knowledge 
he possessed. 


CHAPTER XVII 


A SEARCH FOR TRUTH 

E arly July, which saw the end of both oyster 
planting, and the shelling of the grounds, 
found the pile of shells of Cunningham and Hawley 
entirely exhausted. Where so recently these shells 
had risen in a mountainous heap, there was now 
only bare earth, whitened with shell chips. There 
had been thousands of bushels in the pile. When 
the partners reckoned up their income and adjusted 
their finances, each had a nice little sum of money. 

The instant their affairs were settled, Alec set 
about other matters. Long ago he had ordered 
and received the instruments that he knew would be 
necessary in his summer’s work. These included a 
compound microscope, half a dozen concave watch 
crystals, two settling glasses, two graduated cylin- 
ders, two glass pipettes, two large rubber pipettes, 
four small medicine droppers, a ten-quart galva- 
nized bucket, a simple lift pump, some rubber hose, 
and a salinometer with thermometer enclosed. In 
addition Alec had picked up some wide-mouthed 
bottles, for holding samples; had fastened several 
needles in wooden handles he had whittled out of 
sticks ; and had bought a yard of bolting-cloth with 
193 


194 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

very fine meshes, from which, with Elsa’s assistance, 
he had made a net, conical in shape, fastened about 
a metal ring,’ with an opening at the bottom that 
could be closed tight with a draw string. 

Even by practicing what economies he could, 
Alec had had to spend nearly seventy-five dollars 
for the outfit. More than once he had asked him- 
self if it was really worth while; if, after all, these 
old practical oyster captains didn’t really know 
more about how and where to grow oysters than any 
mere scientific theorist possibly could. Wasn’t he 
really foolish to spend all this money? Wasn’t he 
really throwing it away? He had such need for 
it, in the purchase of articles more commonly seen 
in an oyster fleet. His doubts had hurt and dis- 
couraged him. He needed some one with whom he 
could talk the matter over. When he looked about, 
he saw the same old situation. It was useless to 
talk to any of his three friends, Hawley, Bagley, or 
the shipper. He knew that not one of them would 
consider the matter from a serious, impartial, rea- 
sonable view-point. So he had been forced to take 
the matter to Elsa. 

Never mind about the expense,” she had coun- 
seled, when they had discussed the situation fully. 
“ You won’t be spending as much for your entire 
outfit as most young fellows spend for tobacco and 
the movies. You’ll have something valuable to 
show for your money, and what you buy won’t 
harm you, even if you shouldn’t find it as useful 
as you hope.” 


A SEAECH FOE TEUTH 


195 


“ But suppose there’s nothing in it, after all? ” 
Alec had said. “ Suppose I buy my outfit and it 
doesn’t do me a bit of good. What then? I can’t 
afford to throw away seventy-five dollars for noth- 
ing. I need every cent I earn if I’m ever going 
to get anywhere.” 

“ You can't buy this outfit and have it do you no 
good,” Elsa had replied. 

“ I just guess I could. Suppose I bought the 
things and then didn’t find what I am after? ” 

“ Even so, it would do you good.” 

“ How? ” 

“Alec Cunningham! Sometimes I think you’re 
the stupidest thing I ever met. The idea of asking 
a question like that, when you’ve been working and 
studying like mad for months to find out all you 
can about the oyster business. Of course it will 
help you. If you find what you want, you are 
benefited, aren’t you? And if you don’t find it, 
you’re benefited just the same.” 

“ How? ” Alec had inquired. 

“ Stupid. It isn’t oyster fry you’re after. It’s 
truth. You’ll get it, no matter whether it pleases 
you or not. Won’t you? You’ll know whether 
that bulletin is right or whether the old oystermen 
are right, won’t you? And that’s worth a great 
deal more than seventy-five dollars, isn’t it? Why, 
Alec, if you don’t go ahead and test the thing, you’ll 
never be happy. You’ll fret and fret about it, 
thinking you ought to be planning your work dif- 
ferently. And if you do go ahead, no matter what 


196 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

you learn, you’ll be satisfied. You’ll know whether 
to follow old practices or try new ones. Certainly 
it’s worth a good deal to know you’re right. Then 
you’ll know you must succeed if you keep on in the 
same way.” 

“ Elsa,” Alec had said, “ I guess we are all fools 
at times. I had this thing all thought out in my 
mind and my decision made; but when it came to 
paying seventy-five dollars just to find out some- 
thing, I hadn’t the courage to do it. You don’t 
know how big seventy-five dollars looks to me.” 

“ Silly! ” Elsa had replied. “ Don’t talk to me 
about lacking courage, when you make a practice 
of jumping overboard to fish drowning men out of 
the water. It isn’t courage you lack. It’s partner- 
ship. If you had somebody to back you up, you’d 
never hesitate a second about this thing.” 

“ Where did you learn so much? ” Alec had an- 
swered, with genuine admiration in his glance. 
“ Do you know that’s exactly what I need, and I 
never before knew what it was that was wrong.” 

“ Well, don’t you let it worry you any longer, 
Alec,” Elsa had replied. “ I understand you and 
what you are trying to do, and I think it’s just fine. 
And I’ll stand back of you no matter what they 
say. I know Dad will think you are foolish. He 
thinks anything new is foolish. But never you 
mind. You just go ahead with your plans.” 

“ That settles it,” Alec had replied. “ I am 
going ahead, no matter if it costs twice seventy-five 
dollars. I’m going to find out the truth at any 


A SEAECH FOE TEUTH 


197 


cost. Why, if a fellow doesn’t know the truth, he’s 
like a man who doesn’t know how to get to the place 
he’s trying to reach. He may be walking in the 
wrong direction. It wouldn’t do him much good if 
he was a good walker, would it? And just think 
how near I came to being a dummy like that my- 
self — all for the sake of seventy-five dollars! ” 

So the matter had been settled for good, and 
Alec had ordered the articles, even laughing when 
it took almost his last cent to pay for them. Now 
he had them at hand, and he was almost ready to 
begin his search for the truth — the truth about the 
oyster fry. 

— He lacked only a boat. At first he thought he 
would buy a boat, but when he found that the kind 
of boat he wanted, fitted with a good motor, roofed 
over forward so as to make a little cabin, would 
cost several hundred dollars, and take every cent 
he had made in his shell business, he decided that he 
would rent a boat instead. 

There was just such a boat as he wanted, for 
hire. It was about twenty-five feet long, with a 
snug yet roomy cabin forward, a single sail, which 
he could easily manage, and in the cockpit was a 
small motor, neatly boxed in to protect it from the 
weather. The boxing could be removed if one 
wished to run the engine. Alec secured the craft 
for a reasonable sum, put his scientific outfit aboard, 
brought his clothes and some bedding, and stocked 
the larder with sufficient provisions. Nor did he 
forget his wireless outfit. The Bertha B, like all 


198 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

other oyster craft, was to be overhauled during the 
summer, and be repaired and repainted. Of ne- 
cessity, Alec’s wireless would have to be taken down 
and he had already dismantled it and stowed it in 
a box before finding the little sloop. Now he had 
only to carry his box aboard, and his little craft 
was ready to sail. 

The process of making ready went along merrily 
enough, but when it came to sailing away, a trip all 
by himself suddenly lost its attractiveness. Alec 
turned the situation over in his mind for some time. 

Then he went to his partner in the shell business. 
“ Jim,” he said, “ I’m going out to the Bay in a 
little sloop I’ve hired, to study oyster larvae. Don’t 
you want to go along? ” 

Hawley looked at him in blank amazement. 
“Alec,” he said, “ I’d do most anything for you, 
but I sure don’t want to go out to no Bay and study 
oysters. I know all I want to about oysters al- 
ready. Why, I been ketchin’ oysters for twenty 
years.” 

Alec appealed to Captain Bagley, with no better 
results. Finally he went to the shipper. 

“What fool’s errand is this?” he exclaimed 
testily, when Alec laid the situation before him. 
“ Why, I’ve been expecting to keep you busy all 
summer. I’ve got a job for you, helping about the 
boats. You can pay your board and still be saving 
something all summer, instead of spending all 
you’ve earned, like most of these fellows around 
here do.” 


A SEAECH FOE TEUTH 


199 


Alec really felt grieved to refuse the offer. 
‘‘ Captain Rumford,” he said, “ I appreciate every- 
thing you’ve done for me, and I thank you for this 
offer. But I can’t take it. This is the only op- 
portunity I have to learn about oysters themselves 
and I must take it.” 

“ What nonsense are you up to now? ” demanded 
the shipper. 

“ I’m going out to the Bay to study oysters,” said 
Alec, quietly but firmly. “ I have my outfit all 
ready and I have hired a little slooj) to sail in. I’d 
be mighty glad if you would go out with me.” 

“ Study oysters! ” exploded the shipper. “ Didn’t 
you learn enough about oysters on the Bertlia B? 
And what better outfit do you want than a pair of 
good dredges, eh? What are you about, anyway? 
What does all this nonsense mean? ” 

It was useless to argue or explain. “ I’m sorry 
we don’t see things alike. Captain,” said Alec. “ I 
believe there is more to learn about oysters than 
most of us know, and I’m going to try to find it out. 
If you won’t go with me, will you allow me to take 
Elsa? I’ll be back early, sir; and I’ll answer for 
her safety.” 

“ Oh! I ain’t afraid to trust the girl with you, 
boy, but you’ll have a dull time trying to study 
oysters, as you call it, with her on board. She 
ain’t one mite interested in oysters. She wants 
fun.” 

“ I’ll take a chance on that,” said Alec, “ if you 
are willing to let her go.” 


200 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

Alec’s confidence in Elsa was more than justified. 
He called her on the telephone and stated the situa- 
tion. She did not waste a moment in unnecessary- 
talk, but hung up the receiver the moment she 
understood that Alec wanted her to help him, 
picked up a sweater and a broad-brimmed hat, and 
hurried to the oyster pier in her little car. Within a 
few minutes of the time Alec had called her, the 
two were afloat. 

The little craft that Alec had rented was an ex- 
cellent boat. Built rather for pleasure than for 
work, it was very comfortably fitted out. Further- 
more, it was the fastest little boat in the harbor. 
Its lines were excellent, and it slipped through the 
water as quietly and gracefully as a swan. Being 
equipped both with sail and engine, the owner was 
independent of wind and weather, and could go 
where he liked, when he liked. Unlike most of the 
boats in the harbor, this craft was painted a dull, 
leaden gray, that almost matched the color of the 
water. Alec was glad, for there would be none of 
the usual glare from the summer sun shining on 
white woodwork. The glare on the Bertha B often 
made his eyes ache. He was glad that he would not 
be bothered in that way on the little boat, for he 
would need to have his eyesight at its very best. 

With such an efficient helper aboard, Alec de- 
termined not to lose a moment. He started the 
motor, and soon the little boat was shooting down 
the river at a fast clip. 

It’s queer this boat has no name,” said Alec. 


A SEAECH FOE TEUTH 


201 


“ Oh! It has a name all right, but the name was 
painted over when the owner put this gray paint 
on. This is the Osprey/" 

“ We couldn't have named her better,” said Alec, 
“ for we are fish-hawks ourselves, to-day. That is, 
we are shell-fish hawks.” 

Elsa had often been aboard the boat before, but 
again she examined the craft carefully, for she had 
long wanted her father to get a similar boat. 

“Oh, good!” she exclaimed, when she caught 
sight of xAlec’s wireless instruments, packed away 
in the box. “ If you ever happened to be out over- 
night, we could talk to each other in the evening and 
I could know how the work progresses.” 

“ I expect to be out all the time until I get my 
work done,” replied Alec. “ There is so much to 
be done and so little time to do it in.” 

“ Won’t I see you all this summer? ” cried Elsa, 
and the look of real disappointment on her face 
made Alec happy. 

“ Yes. I shall come home at the end of each 
week. Perhaps it won’t take me as long to do this 
work as I had expected. Why, do you know, I’ve 
found out a tremendous lot about the currents and 
eddies and tides, just from talking to Captain Bag- 
\ey. And I had expected to have all that to learn 
by myself. And I’ve been studying the captain’s 
map of the oyster-beds, and that has made my work 
easier, too. So much of the bottom is already 
leased, that there isn’t any use fooling around to 
try to find out much about the grounds already 


202 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOR 

staked out. What IVe got to do is to find out the 
best spots in the areas not yet staked.” 

“ I don’t agree with you at all,” said Elsa. 

What you want to know is the whole truth, not 
part of the truth.” 

“ But I can never hope to own land that is al- 
ready staked out. Why, a good bed costs thou- 
sands and thousands of dollars.” 

“Alec Cunningham,” protested Elsa, trying to 
look severe, “ you make me so mad I could beat you. 
For a boy with so much energy and brains, you 
say and do the most foolish things I ever heard. 
Now think over what you’ve just been saying. Here 
you are working like a steam-engine, day and night, 
to become an oyster-planter. You ought to know 
that if you keep on this way, you’ll get there sure. 
Everybody else knows it. And yet you turn around 
and say you’ll have to take the leavings, instead of 
planning to take your pick. And you’re going to 
find out half the truth instead of the whole truth, 
and so cripple yourself. Isn’t that enough to make 
anybody mad at you? ” 

“ But,” expostulated Alec, “ even if I do become 
a planter, I’ve got to take what I can get.” 

“ Of course you do. But there are more ways 
than one of getting a thing done, aren’t there? 
You’ve got this boat now, haven’t you? You don’t 
own her, but, for the time being, she’s yours. It 
might be the same with an oyster-bed. My father 
often rents other men’s beds, or works them on 
shares, or buys the oysters in them. Some day you 


A SEAECH FOE TEETH 


203 


may want to do the same thing. What you need to 
do is to know all the truth about these oyster 
grounds. It isn’t worth while to do half of a job. 
And that isn’t the kind of work you do, either. I 
know something about you, Alec Cunningham. 
You’ve got no end of brains and energy, but your 
judgment isn’t always good. You need a guard- 
lan. 

Both Elsa and Alec laughed heartily at the idea; 
then Alec’s face grew sober. “ I’m beginning to 
realize that that isn’t any joke,” he said. “ I think 
it’s because I haven’t had any one to talk things 
over with. It’s pretty hard for a fellow to decide 
things right all by himself every time.” Then he 
smiled again, as he added, “ I think it will be all 
right hereafter, for now I do seem to have a 
guardian.” 

Elsa’s face grew scarlet. “Oh! Alec,” she 
cried, “ I don’t want you to think I meant what I 
said — that is, not in the way it sounded. And if 
you don’t take back what you just said, I’ll never 
talk to you again.” 

“ I’ll take it all back,” said Alec, “ just as Galileo 
took back his assertion about the earth’s turning 
round.” 

“ How was that? ” demanded Elsa. 

“ That’s for you to find out,” laughed Alec, and 
he would not tell her. 

Soon they were in the open Bay. “ Even if I do 
need to study all the oyster grounds,” said Alec, 
“ I’m going to begin on the unstaked areas.” 


204 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

“ Of course. You may find grounds as good 
there as any in the Cove. Then you could get them 
direct from the state, at a minimum cost.” 

Alec spread out the map of the oyster-beds he 
had borrowed from Captain Bagley. “ We’ll begin 
here,” he said, “ and work straight offshore. Are 
you going to help me or just watch me? ” 

“ Help you, of course. If I couldn’t be of any 
more use than a phonograph, there wasn’t much 
sense in my coming.” 

“ Then suppose you take soundings and test with 
this salinometer. The instrument will give you the 
density of the water, and the thermometer in the 
bulb will register the temperature. I’ve made sev- 
eral copies of this map of the oyster-beds, and we’ll 
mark our position with a cross and write down be- 
side it whatever we find. While you are doing 
that. I’ll be testing for larvae.” 

Elsa took the sounding-line and dropped the lead 
into the waves, the line paying out over her finger. 
When the lead came to rest on the bottom, she noted 
the depth on the line. Then she took Alec’s foun- 
tain pen and set down the depth beside the cross 
Alec had made on the map. 

“ Just date it, too,” said Alec, “ and note down 
the stage of both wind and tide. It’s pretty well 
toward ebb now, and, if the book is right, we 
oughtn’t to expect to find many larvae. They 
seem to drop down to the bottom and anchor them- 
selves during the ebb-tide to avoid being swept out 
to sea. They come up when the tide turns, and we 


A SEAECH FOE TEUTH 205 

ought to find more in the flood-tide than in the 
ebb.” 

Alec, all this time, was getting ready for his 
part of the work. He took a galvanized bucket 
that belonged on the Osprey and lowered it over- 
board for a few moments so it would take on the 
temperature of the Bay. Then he lifted it aboard, 
brimming with water, and set it in the shade. Elsa 
thrust the salinometer and testing tube into the 
bucket to cool. Then Alec attached his hose to his 
lift pump, and carefully lowering the hose to a 
point within a few inches of the bottom, pumped 
his own bucket, which had also been cooling in the 
waves, full of water. It was the sample from the 
bottom, in which the oysters actually lie, that he 
wanted to test. 

Elsa drew her tube and salinometer out of the 
cooling bucket, and Alec filled the tube with water 
from his own bucket. Elsa lowered the salinom- 
eter into it and put the tube in the shade. Then 
she held the bolting-cloth net over a tub, while Alec 
slowly emptied his bucket of water from the bottom 
into it. The bucket contained ten quarts and Alec 
had it brimming full. Gradually the water filtered 
through the net into the tub, leaving on the inside of 
the net whatever sediment had been in the water. 
In this sediment Alec expected to find the oyster 
larvse. Ten times they did this, until they had 
strained one hundred quarts of water through the 
net. From time to time Alec threw the filtered 
water overboard. Finally the net was lifted clear 


206 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

of the tub and the last of the water allowed to filter 
through it. While Elsa held the net up, Alec 
washed the sediment from the sides down into the 
tip of the net, with water dipped from the tub. 
When the filtering process was fully completed, 
and the sediment all concentrated in the tip of the 
net, Alec carefully untied the draw string, opening 
the end of the net, and, using his large rubber bulb 
pipette, washed the sediment into one of his wide- 
mouthed settling bottles. 

Now Elsa turned her attention to her salinom- 
eter. It was intended to register the density or 
degree of saltiness of the water. Alec could hardly 
restrain his impatience, so eager was he to see what 
the instrument would tell. 

“ You know, Elsa,” he said, “ that sometimes the 
best seed grounds are in waters of so low a density 
as to be entirely unsuitable for fattening or even 
growing oysters. I’ve been thinking about that a 
whole lot, for most of the oysters we dredged on the 
Bertha B this year were very poor. They hadn’t 
fattened a bit. Captain Bagley said he never had 
caught any good oysters in that bed. I’ve just been 
wondering if the water wasn’t of the proper density. 
Why, those oysters would have been worth a whole 
lot more if they had been fat.” 

Elsa lifted the salinometer from the tube. ‘‘ The 
water ought not to be very dense here,” said Alec, 
“ for we’re so near the shore and it’s near the end 
of the ebb-tide. There’s fresh water pouring in all 
the time from the tributaries.” 


A SEAECH FOE TEUTH 


207 


They found, as Alec had surmised, a low degree 
of density. The reading of the thermometer was 
also low. “ That’s what I expected, too,” com- 
mented Alec. “ This has been the coldest spring I 
can remember. I thought for a time that I was 
deceived because I was out in the wind so much, 
but the skipper said it really had been unusually 
cold this spring. I asked him the other day. It 
doesn’t look as though we’d get much of a set this 
year. Why, that water is barely warm enough for 
oysters to spawn at all. And this water close to 
shore ought to be warmer than that farther out.” 

Elsa marked down on the chart the density and 
temperature. 

“ We forgot to make a note about the weather,” 
said Alec. “ Please add that, also.” 

“ It’s going to take a long, long time to make a 
complete job,” sighed Alec, as Elsa noted down 
the weather. “ I suppose I’ll have to work at it 
for several summers.” 

“ I suppose you’ll have to work at it every sum- 
mer,” said Elsa, “ if you intend to become a scien- 
tific oysterman. Don’t you suppose conditions 
change from year to year in the oyster-beds? They 
must, for lots of times I’ve heard my father say he 
can’t understand why the oysters in some given 
bed don’t fatten some years. There must be 
changes from year to year. Whatever the reason 
was, I know his oysters have been poor enough this 
year. I heard him telling mother the other night 
that it had cost him hundreds of dollars because the 


208 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

oysters in some of his beds hadn’t fattened as they 
usually do.” 

From time to time Alec carefully lifted the set- 
tling bottle and examined it. By the time a quarter 
of an hour had elapsed he said, “ That looks clear 
enough now to begin our count.” 

A distinct layer of sediment had fallen to the 
bottom of the bottle, while the water near the sur- 
face was quite clear. This upper layer of water 
Alec now carefully drew out with a pipette. The 
sediment became more and more concentrated. 
When Alec had removed all the water he dared, he 
washed the sediment into his graduated cylinder. 
Then, with a medicine dropper, he transferred a 
very small portion of the sediment to a watch 
crystal. Very gently, at the same time, he rotated 
the crystal in his hand, slightly agitating it. 
Gradually the sediment seemed to divide into two 
parts. About the edge of the liquid the lighter 
particles of mud and other impurities seemed to col- 
lect, while the heavier particles were concentrated 
in the centre of the glass. It was in this central 
deposit of sediment that Alec expected to find the 
oyster larvse. 

'No wonder he was glad there was no glare of 
white paint to hurt his eyes, for the work before 
him was enough to try even the best of vision. The 
total amount of sediment in his watch crystal was 
so small that its entire surface could be seen at one 
glance through the microscope. And the oyster 
fry were presumably gathered in the tiniest of 


A SEAEOH FOE TEUTH 


209 


spaces in the very centre of this tiny bit of sedi- 
ment. 

The actual counting of the larvse might have 
troubled one unaccustomed to the use of the micro- 
scope; but Alec was at home with the instrument. 
He placed his watch crystal under the lens, adjusted 
the instrument to his own vision, and with one of 
his wooden-handled needles began to pick over the 
central windrow of debris. One by one he found 
and counted the oyster larvse, or what he thought 
were larvae. There was no question whatever 
about the largest larvse. They possessed a reddish- 
purple hue that is found in the larvse of no other 
bivalve. Also there was a distinct beak or bulge 
in the shell next to the hinge that he had read 
about in his bulletin. So he was sure of the identity 
of the larger oyster fry. But when it came to those 
more recently spawned, Alec could not be so sure. 
He knew that there was no certain way to distin- 
guish between very young oyster and clam larvse 
except by measuring them. This he was not 
equipped to do. Nor did it make any material 
difference whether Alec ascertained the exact num- 
ber of larvse in the water or not. What he was 
after was to find the relative quantities of larvse in 
different places and at different times. 

Under the microscope Alec found the oyster 
larvse were a very beautiful sight indeed. The 
reddish-purple color was very similar in hue to the 
color of the muscle scar on the shell of an adult 
oyster. After the death of the oyster, Alec knew. 


210 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

this vivid color rapidly disappeared. Elsa was as 
much pleased as Alec had been, when she looked 
through the microscope and saw the brilliant-hued 
oyster fry. 

Little by little, Alec transferred the contents of 
the bottle to his watch crystal and counted the 
larvae. He found only a few dozen in all. That 
did not surprise him for he had not expected to 
find many. The fact in itself meant very little until 
he learned whether other portions of the oyster 
grounds contained relatively more or fewer larvae 
under similar conditions. That was what he most 
wanted to know — where the oyster fry collected, so 
he could do as the book suggested, and get his shells 
under them. 

Now that he had started the work, Alec meant 
to keep at it until he found where the very greatest 
number of larvae were concentrated, and then try 
to secure the ground beneath. If he found good 
beds unstaked, he could get them direct from the 
state. If some one else already had claim to them, 
he could work with a view to acquiring them at 
some future time. For the friendly scolding Elsa 
had given him had settled the matter in his own 
mind instantly. He wasn’t going to do any half- 
way job. 

Before noon, Alec had made tests in a number of 
places, working straight out from the shore as he 
had planned. That gave him a sort of cross-sec- 
tion of the bed, as it were. He decided that he 
would go over the same ground again at once to 


A SEAECH FOR TRUTH 


211 


see if the flood-tide made any difference in his count. 
For by this time the tide had almost finished run- 
ning out. 

At dinner time Alec and Elsa headed the Osprey 
for a little point of land near by. A tree growing 
back on the point offered shade. They managed to 
get ashore, though it bothered them to find a place 
where they could get near to firm ground with the 
tide so low. Then they fastened the Osprey, and 
made their way through the rank marsh growths, 
to the tree. They made a little fire, slung a coffee- 
pot over the blaze, and toasted some Wieners while 
the coffee was cooking. 

After dinner they went back to the boat and re- 
sumed their work, making tests in exactly the same 
places they had tested in the forenoon. And in the 
flood-tide they found many more oyster fry than 
they had in the ebb. 

“ Looks as though there wasn’t much use working 
on an ebb-tide,” said Alec, “ though, of course, I 
might find out after a while what the relative num- 
ber is in the two tides. But there is a lot I can 
do in ebb-tide as well as in flood. I can take sound- 
ings just as well, and I can examine the bottles even 
better. I’m going to try to make a sort of topo- 
graphical map of the bottom. It’ll be a poor 
enough thing, at best, but it will help me to under- 
stand about the currents. Then I can examine 
the currents themselves at flood-tide for larvae.” 

Their supper they ate on the Osprey* Then 
Alec hoisted the sail, and in the gentle breeze that 


212 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

still blew, and with the incoming tide to carry them, 
they sailed silently and swiftly homeward through 
the sunset and the gathering dusk. Very different 
was the river from the stream as Alec had first seen 
it. Now hardly a boat was visible. They passed 
only one, The Shark, anchored apparently for the 
night. 

“ Elsa,” said Alec, as they neared the harbor, “ it 
has been a wonderful day. It has meant every- 
thing to me. It will make my whole summer hap- 
pier. I see clearly enough that this job is going to 
become mighty tedious. But the remembrance of 
this day will help me to stick to it, even if I do have 
to work alone.” 

“ You won’t be so much alone as you think,” re- 
plied Elsa. “You have your wireless, and we can 
call each other every noon and night. We can talk 
in the early evening and after Arlington sends out 
the time and the weather news. If you are going to 
be out on the water so much, you will want to get 
the weather forecasts, sure. It makes me nervous 
to think of you all alone out on the Bay. All sorts 
of things might happen to you.” 

“ Nonsense,” replied Alec. “ I’ll be as safe and 
snug as a bug in a rug.” 

“ I hope so. But when I think of you all alone 
out on that great expanse of water, it makes me 
shiver. You might be caught in a big storm, or 
pirates might rob you.” 

“ I thought you had such good judgment,” 
taunted Alec. “ Now listen to you.” 


A SEAECH FOR TRUTH 


213 


“ That’s the very reason I’m cautioning you. 
Besides, who has a better right to do so than your 
guardian? ” 

They both laughed at the joke, then Elsa said: 
“ When we talk to each other, let’s telegraph. It 
takes longer, but not so many people can under- 
stand what we say. Since you installed our wire- 
less telephone, everybody in the neighborhood has 
been getting one.” 

“All right, we’ll telegraph. I’ll call you up as 
soon as Arlington is done sending. Then you’ll 
know that the bogey man hasn’t got me yet. But 
seriously, Elsa, there isn’t a particle of danger. 
Now I must hustle back to the Osprey or I may 
not get my wireless rigged up in time.” 

Could Alec have seen ahead through the dark- 
ness that was fast enfolding the world, he would 
not have felt so sure about the absence of danger. 
Once before he had thought himself safe when death 
stalked close to his heels. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


A LONG CHASE 

N ot until Alec said good night to Elsa and 
started back to the Osprey, did he realize how 
dark it was becoming. He had ridden all the way 
home with Elsa in her car, despite her protest that 
it wasn’t necessary. But he left her at her door and 
started back at top speed. He had just missed a 
trolley-car, and there would not be another for an 
hour. If he hurried, he could walk back as soon as 
the next trolley-car could get him there. So he 
tramped rapidly along.. He could distinguish the 
light, sandy road, but that was about all he could 
see. 

Alec had moored the Osprey at a little float some 
distance from the pier shed. It was much easier 
to get on this float from a tiny boat like the Osprey 
than it would have been to crawl up to the piers. 
The float itself was merely a small staging made 
of one or two large timbers with planks nailed across 
them to form a walk. This plank walk was only a 
few inches above the tide. So it was perfectly 
easy for Elsa to step out on the float. From the 
float itself, a narrow walk made of single planks 
laid end to end, and supported on cross-beams 
214 


A LONG CHASE 


215 


fastened to pilings driven in the mud, led upward 
from the river to the solid ground. A single rope, 
fastened along one side of this foot-bridge, was the 
only protection against falling off the planks. 

Naturally Alec made his wa^y with caution as he 
neared the river. The path to the little bridge led 
through the marsh reeds, which were head high. 
Alec could see hardly a thing and had to feel his 
way along with his feet. He blamed himself for 
his thoughtlessness in not bringing his bright car- 
bide lamp, or at least slipping his flash-light into his 
pocket. Now he would have to be mighty careful 
or he would find himself in the water! again. He 
had had quite enough experiences of this sort, so 
he went on with the greatest caution. Ahead of 
him he could occasionally hear a loud voice, that 
was instantly hushed. He went on until he reached 
the plank bridge, which he started to cross with the 
utmost care. 

The instant he was fairly out of the reeds, he 
knew where the sounds of voices came from. Float- 
ing on the tide, close beside the plank bridge, was 
a tiny house-boat, or cabin, as the oystermen com- 
monly called it. Alec knew that the cabin was 
occupied by a rough-looking man, named Frank 
Hawkins, who had a great scar across his cheek, 
and whom he had seen about the oyster wharves at 
times. Beyond the fact that Hawkins was a rather 
rough character, Alec knew little about the man. 
He had heard Captain Bagley say that the fellow 
never did an honest day’s work in his life. But 


216 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

Alec would have given small heed to this, had he 
not now distinctly caught the name “ Cap’n Rum- 
ford.” 

Alec stopped as though he were shot. The sound 
came from within the little cabin, which Alec could 
now dimly distinguish, for faint rays of light shone 
through the cracks of the shuttered windows and 
under the door. The subdued hum of voices told 
Alec that several men must be inside the cabin. 
He wondered why they should have shut up the 
tiny house-boat so tight, as though this were a fierce 
winter night instead of a warm, July evening. And 
he wondered why they should be eating at this hour, 
for the smell of cooking came plainly to his nose. 

For some moments Alec stood motionless, strain- 
ing his ears to catch what was said within the cabin. 
Suddenly it occurred to him that he was eavesdrop- 
ping. He started to move on, when again the same 
rough voice that had said “ Cap’n Rumford,” 
boomed out, “We can get ten thousand bushels.” 
The rest of the sentence was drowned in a babel 
of protests. “Shut up! Don’t talk so loud!” 
cried half a dozen voices angrily. Then the voices 
sank down to a murmur again. 

Instantly Alec realized that something evil was 
afoot. What did all this mean? Why should 
these men be whispering together in a tightly closed 
cabin? They could get ten thousand bushels of 
what? That was easy to guess. Ten thousand 
bushels of oysters, of course. That was all anybody 
at Bivalve ever thought about — oysters. But why 


A LONG CHASE 


217 


should they be getting oysters now, in July? They 
couldn’t sell them. What would they do with 
them? 

Then it came to Alec like a flash. They must 
mean seed-oysters. There would be a ready sale 
for them, even in July. Of course everybody 
would know the seed had been taken illegally, as 
the state beds were closed at the end of June. But 
there were some oystermen dishonest enough to 
buy them for all that. Immediately there came 
into Alec’s mind the thought of his first morning 
on the Bertha B and the remembrance of the oyster- 
boat that had fouled her. Distinctly he recalled 
Captain Bagley’s statement about Captain Hardy: 
“ That fellow ought to be doing time in Trenton. 
He’s always up to something crooked. The last 
time they caught him he was dredging illegally in 
the natural beds. He got off with a fine but I 
reckon the next time he gets caught in any crooked 
business, he’ll go to prison.” 

Once more the voices in the cabin gTew loud. 
“ I tell you I know. I’ve been pumping old Flint. 
He planted more’n a thousandjbushels to the acre.” 
Again the great, booming voice was stilled by warn- 
ing cries within the cabin. “ Shut up! Do you 
want to get us all in trouble! ” 

Alec heard a door open. Quick as a flash he 
knelt on the narrow plank and crouched as low as 
he could. A shaft of light shot athwart the dark- 
ness, though fortunately it did not fall on him. A 
head was poked out into the night. “ Nobody 


218 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

round,” said a voice, as the head disappeared and 
the door was slammed shut again. 

Alec waited to hear no more. The instant the 
hum of voices again arose within the cabin, he tip- 
toed down the plank bridge to the Osprey, cast off 
his lines, and picking up an oar, sculled rapidly 
away from the float. He had heard all he needed 
to hear, and seen more than was good for his peace 
of mind. The head that had been thrust out into 
the night was that of Jim Wallace, the very shell 
collector who had tried to buy Alec’s rattlers, and 
who had threatened him with harm. And though 
he had not seen him, Alec was no less certain that 
the loud-voiced man in the cabin was Captain Tom 
Hardy. The voice that came booming out of the 
cabin was surely the voice Alec had heard that first 
morning on the Bertha B, 

Nor could there be any greater uncertainty about 
the meaning of Captain Hardy’s statement concern- 
ing the oysters. Captain Flint was the skipper of 
one of the Rumford boats. Alec knew that he had 
made a hea\^ planting on a new bed. Captain 
Flint was a good sailor and a capable oysterman, 
but he had one failing. He liked to boast. Evi- 
dently Captain Hardy had craftily drawn him out 
and had discovered what a thick planting Captain 
Flint had made. The temptation was too great 
for the crooked oysterman. | He knew for sure that 
he could get ten thousand bushels of good seed- 
oysters in one little bed, and get them very easily. 
Now he was evidently laying plans to do it. 


A LONG CHASE 


219 


Alec’s sole thought in driving the Osprey out into 
the river was to get away. He knew very well 
that if the lawless men in the cabin should lay hands 
on him in the dark, and particularly if they sus- 
pected that he had overheard any of their conversa- 
tion, it would go hard with him. They might even 
murder him. So he drove his little craft through 
the water as fast as he could scull her. 

But when he had put some hundreds of feet be- 
tween himself and the river bank, and no longer 
feared immediate harm, he began to think the situa- 
tion over calmly. He had no doubt that Hardy 
and his pals were planning to steal the seed-oysters 
from Captain Rumford’s newest bed. But whether 
or not they meant to dredge them at once, Alec did 
not know. Now he wished that he had not come 
away so hastily. If only he had remained a little 
longer, he might have learned all about the plans the 
thieves were making. He was almost tempted to 
go back and listen again. He stopped sculling. 
Then his better judgment told him that it would be 
foolish to take a chance like that. This time the 
thieves might discover him ; and if they did, he had 
no doubt whatever that he would get badly hurt. 
He already knew all that it was necessary to know. 
All he needed to do now was to inform Captain 
Rumford and to keep watch on Hardy’s boat, the 
Shark. Alec smiled grimly as he thought how 
aptly she was named. Now he remembered that 
he had passed her on the way up the river. She 
lay at anchor some distance down-stream. 


220 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

“ INIoored her there so he could get away without 
being observed,” muttered Alec to himself. 

/Alec decided he would go ashore and telephone 
to the shipper, and then try to discover what the 
men in the cabin meant to do. He headed the 
Osprey toward the oyster wharves, but before he 
had gone a dozen yards, the door of the cabin was 
thrown open and Alec saw a number of men pass 
through the doorway. Then the door closed as 
suddenly as it had opened, and all was dark again. 
Presently splashing sounds in the water and the 
rattle of an oar told him that the men were getting 
into a boat. He had no doubt they would go 
straight to the Shark. He was directly in their 
path. There was only one thing to do — ^get away 
as fast as he could. 

Once more Alec svmng the Osprey round. She 
was so much larger and heavier than the ordinaiy 
yawl boat that he could not scull her very fast. He 
headed straight for the farther bank of the river, 
his heart beating fast as he listened for sounds of 
possible pursuit. But no noise broke the stillness 
and Alec knew that he was undiscovered. He went 
on. Occasionally he heard a low voice in the dark- 
ness, and now he was certain that the men in the 
boat were heading for the Shark. 

When Alec reached the farther bank of the river, 
he rested on his oar and tried to think what he ought 
tofdo. He knew that he ought to talk with Captain 
Rumford the very first thing. But now he did not 
^ant to go to the pier lest he lose track of the men 


A LONG CHASE 


221 


in the yawl. They might board the Shark and sail 
away while he was in the office telephoning. Then 
he thought of his wireless. Maybe he could get into 
communication with Elsa at once, and if he could 
not, he certainly could a little later. Instantly his 
decision was taken. He would stay in the Osprey 
and try to watch the oyster thieves. 

At once Alec began to string up his instruments. 
Practically they were already wired together; for 
he had removed the little shelf bodily from the 
Bertha B and put it in the box without detaching 
the instruments from it. He would have to attach 
the battery again and rig up an aerial. Immedi- 
ately Alec fastened the Osprey to a near-by piling. 
Then he covered the windows of his little cabin so 
no light could shine out. Finally he entered the 
cabin and closed the companionway tight. Then 
he lighted a lamp. In a few minutes he had the 
shelf with his instruments securely mounted where 
it could remain. He fastened the battery under 
a bunk and connected it with the instruments on the 
shelf. He decided that temporarily he would run 
his lead-in wire through the doorway. He would 
fix it permanently when daylight came. So he at- 
tached the lead-in wire to the single strand /of un- 
insulated wire he meant to use for his aerial. Then 
tucking his flash-light and his pliers in his pocket, 
he extinguished his lamp, opened the cabin door, 
and went on deck. Attaching one end of his aerial 
to a halyard, he hoisted it nearly to the top of his 
mast. Then he fastened the lower end to the tiny 


222 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

bowsprit, so that the wire hung almost parallel with 
the jib stay. It wasn’t much of an aerial, but Alec 
knew it would answer perfectly well for the work 
he meant to do with it. 

He went inside the cabin and tested the outfit. 
It worked perfectly. He flashed his light on the 
cabin clock. It was not yet nine o’clock. He made 
ready to call the shipper on the wireless telephone, 
then decided he wouldn’t. There really was noth- 
ing definite that he could tell him. He could merely 
communicate his suspicions. After all. Captain 
Hardy might not be going to rob the oyster-bed. 
If he alarmed the shipper needlessly, the shipper 
wouldn’t think much of his judgment in future. 
Alec decided he would try to learn something more 
before communicating with the shipper. At least 
he could keep a watch on the Shark, 

Alec cast loose from the piling and made his way 
down the river. He hugged the shore, for he knew 
that his little boat could never be seen if he kept 
close to the tall reeds that grew in dense masses 
along the bank. There | was enough wind blowing 
to drive the Osprey at a good pace, but Alec dared 
not hoist his sail. So he sculled the boat slowly 
along, ever on the alert. He knew that the Shark 
was anchored in the second reach. But he was well 
through this reach before he could make up his mind 
whether the oyster-boat still lay there or not. So 
dark was the night that he could see absolutely 
nothing of her. Suddenly he heard a great voice 
bawling profanely at some one, and he knew the 


A LONG CHASE 


223 


Shark was still there. Quickly came the creak of 
tackle-blocks. The sail was going up. Then he 
heard the clanking of a capstan, though evidently 
the sound had been muffled in some way. But it 
told him all he needed to know. The Shark was 
lifting her anchor. She was going to sail. Was 
she heading for the oyster grounds? 

For a single moment Alec hesitated. Then, “ I’ll 
do it !” he muttered between clenched teeth, and he 
stepped to the halyards and cautiously hoisted his 
own sail. “ If I can’t see their big sail,” he rea- 
soned, “ they surely can’t see my little one.” Then 
he went hack to the cockpit, took the tiller in his 
hand and started in pursuit of the oyster pirates. 

From time to time he could hear sounds on the 
boat ahead of him, but gradually these grew so faint 
that he knew the Shark was outdistancing him. So 
he drew away from the bank and stood out boldly 
into the middle of the river. As yet he had caught 
not a single glimpse of the Shark, and he knew his 
own presence was utterly unsuspected. But the 
men on the Shark were sharp-eyed and it would not 
take them long to discover him if the night grew 
lighter. And to Alec it seemed as though it were 
becoming lighter. Perhaps that was because his 
eyes were growing so accustomed to the dark. He 
did not like to think what might happen to him if 
he fell into the hands of these men, so far away 
from any other human beings. If they should harm 
him — he did not like even to think of the word mur- 
der — ^he might never be able to warn the shipper 


224 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 

about the intended theft of his oysters. Now Alec 
saw that he had been unwise in trying to trail these 
desperate men without first telling the shipper. 

“ I’ll call him at once,” said Alec. And again he 
hesitated. “ What shall I tell him? ” he asked him- 
self. “Wouldn’t the captain be angry if I got 
him out here and this proved to be only a wild-goose 
chase? I’ll just wait until I have something definite 
to tell him.” 

On he drove down the river. Afar off winked 
the range-lights. Off his port bow East Point 
Light was gleaming. But no other lights of any 
sort shone through the darkness ahead of him. No 
ship of any kind was riding the waves before him 
except the pirate Shark— unless other ships, too, 
might be running illegally without lights, endan- 
gering both themselves and all other craft, even as 
Alec himself was doing. But there were worse 
dangers than collisions to think of now, and Alec 
bent his entire attention to the problem of locating 
the Shark, 

Unmistakably now he saw the cloud-rack above 
was becoming thinner. Once, for a single moment, 
he caught the gleam of a star. Then it vanished 
instantly. On went the Osprey, Only with the 
greatest difficulty could Alec make out the bank of 
the stream. Yet he managed to keep in the current 
and avoid running aground. 

Presently Alec knew by the action of the boat 
that he was coming into the broad estuary of the 
river. The Osprey began to heave just the 


A LONG CHASE 


225 


slightest bit. From the position of East Point 
Light Alec judged he must be about over the bar. 
Ahead of him now lay only leagues and leagues of 
tossing water. Gone was the protection of the 
reedy banks. He would have to look sharp now 
if he was to escape detection. 

Hardly had the thought entered Alec’s mind, 
when for a single instant he was certain he saw the 
Shark. Something white loomed ahead of him, 
then the darkness swallowed it up again. But Alec 
had no doubt it was the Shark. Glad, indeed, was 
Alec now that the Osprey was painted a leaden 
gray. “ If only my sail was gray, too,” thought 
Alec. “ Fortunately it’s so old and dirty that it’s 
almost gray. I don’t believe they’ll ever see me.” 

He wondered what time it was. Stepping inside 
the cabin, he flashed his light for a second on the 
clock. “Almost ten,” he muttered. “ I must get 
ready to talk with Elsa.” 

He stepped forward and dropped his little 
anchor. Then he let the Osprey swing round until 
she was headed into the wind and tugging smartly 
at her anchor cable. The sail flapped gently in the 
breeze. Alec looked sharply toward every quarter 
of the compass, and seeing nothing alarming, went 
into the cabin and sat down at his instrument. 

Arlington was just sending out the time when he 
got his receivers adjusted. He did not waste a sec- 
ond but began calling Elsa. 

“ 3ARM— 3ARM— 3ARM de3ADH— 3ADH 
— 3ADH,” he flashed. Almost immediately came 


226 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEKATOK 

the answer. “ 3ADH — 3ADH — 3ADH de 
3ARM— 3ARM— 3ARM— K.” 

Alec heaved a sigh that was close to a sob. Until 
[this instant he had not realized what a strain he was 
under. He had been as tense as a fiddle string. 
Now it seemed as though a hand had reached out 
through the darkness and grasped his own. Fresh 
courage came to him. With steady fingers he 
ticked off his message. 

“Aboard the Osprey — off East Point Light — tell 
your father I overheard plan to steal seed from his 
new bed. Believe Captain Tom Hardy, Jim Wal- 
lace, Frank Hawkins, and others unknown to me 
in the gang. They went aboard the Shark and are 
heading out toward the oyster-beds. I followed in 
the Osprey. So dark I can’t see Shark. Will fol- 
low and let you know if they dredge. Will you 
stand by? May need you.” 

“Father! father!” almost shrieked Elsa in her 
excitement, forgetting to answer the message. 
“ Come quick! ” 

Captain Rumford came running. “ Oh! 
Father,” said Elsa, “ Tom Hardy and Jim Wallace 
and Frank Hawkins and some other men Alec 
doesn’t know are going out to your new bed in the 
Shark to steal the seed you planted there, Alec 
overheard them and followed in the Osprey. He’s 
going to watch and tell us if they dredge any 
oysters.” 

“ What? ” bellowed the oyster shipper. “ The 
fool followed them! They’ll murder him. Tell 


A LONG CHASE 227 

him to come bacl^ this instant!” And the oyster 
shipper darted out! of the room. 

With a gasp of fear Elsa turned to her instru- 
ment. “Alec, come back,” she rapped out franti- 
cally, 

“ What does your father want me to do? ” asked 
Alec, disregarding her plea. 

“ Come back,” she answered. “ He’s gone.” 

But Alec did not understand that it was the 
shipper who wanted him to come back. “ I can’t 
come back now,” he flashed. “ But I will the min- 
ute I get the evidence we need. Good-bye, and 
please stand by.” 

“Alec,” came the answer, “ please come back. 
Your guardian commands you to come back.” 

“ I’ve got to save your father’s oysters,” flashed 
Alec. “ Please stand by.” 

“ I’ll stand by until I know you are safe. Please, 
please, come back.” 

There was no answer, and Elsa knew that her 
comrade was sailing out into the darkness, possiblj^ 
to his death. With clenched hands and chalky face 
she sat tense, listening, listening, listening, but no 
word came singing in her ears. She could only sit 
and hope — and fear. 

Out on the black waters of the Bay, meantime, 
Alec was /driving his little vessel hot on the heels of 
the oyster pirates. With the utmost caution he 
lifted and stowed his anchor, swung his boat, and 
let his sheet pay out. Then, taking his bearings 
from the flashing lights, he headed straight for the 


228 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOK 

new bed. Again and again he searched the horizon, 
but at first no slightest glimpse of the Shark re- 
warded his efforts. From time to time he cast an 
eye upward, studying the clouds. Now he was 
certain they were becoming thinner. About the 
water itself there seemed to be a faintly luminous 
quality. Alec had no fear it would betray the posi- 
tion of his little craft, however, for in color it was 
hardly distinguishable from the waves. It was his 
sail alone that he feared. 

On he went. Mile after mile, the little Osprey 
followed the Shark, Now Alec was able to catch an 
occasional glimpse of the pirate ship. But these 
glimpses were so fleeting, so vague and uncertain, 
that had he not been straining his eyes to discover 
just what he saw, he would never have guessed 
that he was looking at a ship. There was a whitish, 
luminous patch that stood out for a second, then 
vanished again in the dark. But it was enough 
to tell Alec all he needed to know. 

/On they went. Minute followed minute. And 
to Alec a minute seemed like ten. For every min- 
ute took him farther from land, farther from help, 
nearer to danger. He was tense as a drumhead, his* 
nerves were strung to the tightest notch, his senses 
fairly aquiver. He began to wish he had heeded 
Elsa’s plea to return. But now his very pride 
would not let him go back. He had committed 
himself. He would see the thing through. 

Now he felt certain the new bed must be near. 
He must lessen his speed or he might run too close 


A LONG CHASE 


229 


to the raiders and be seen. He was in a quandary. 
He dared not lower his sail. He did not want to 
tack. He was running straight before the wind, 
directly in the wake of the Shark, He knew that 
by the yeasty track in the water. But he must do 
something to lessen his speed. He hauled in his 
sail so that it began to flap. He was afraid the noise 
might betray him or his canvas be rent by a sudden 
gust. So he paid out his rope enough to keep his 
sail steady, and went on. 

His speed fell off. It was time it did, too, for 
almost immediately he heard a splashing in the 
water and the rattle of chains as they paid out over 
iron rollers. The Shark was dredging! And she 
was near at hand. Nearer than Alec had imagined, 
too near for safety should the night grow any 
lighter. For now Alec could faintly see the big 
ship. If only he knew that she was dredging in the 
shipper’s bed, he could tack and mn for port. But 
he did not know. He did not want to go back until 
he had his evidence | complete. How to get it, he 
did not for the moment know. One thing was sure : 
he didn’t dare go any closer to the Shark, He 
would lie to and watch. He ran forward and 
dropped his anchor. Then very cautiously he low- 
ered his sail. Now he felt safe from observation as 
long as it continued dark. He would wait for an 
opportunity to learn what beds the Shark was 
dredging. 

But there was one thing Alec had not reckoned 
on. That was the powerful night-glass in the hands 


230 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

of Thomas Hardy. Again and again the wary 
skipper swept the horizon with his glass. Once he 
had caught the faint gleam of the Osprey's sail; but 
the darkness instantly blotted it out again, and he 
had thought nothing of it. Now it was unmis- 
takably lighter. As the hawk-eyed pirate manoeu- 
vred his ship back and forth, he kept a watchful gaze 
shoreward, again and again sweeping the waters 
with his glass. And in one of these searches, he 
discovered the Osprey, With a startled oath he 
centred his gaze on the little craft. Then he ordered 
the dredges reeled in. The instant they were 
aboard, he swung the ship, and bore down on the 
Osprey, 

All this happened so suddenly that Alec was 
caught unaware. Had he known what was coming, 
so that he could get his sail up, he might have run 
into the wind and outdistanced the Shark, for the 
Osprey was a wonderiul sailor to windward. But 
the Shark was half-way toward him before Alec 
really knew what was happening. Then it was too 
late. There was nothing to do but await capture 
and make the best of it. 

There was still time to say good-bye to Elsa, 
however. Alec darted into the cabin, threw ove?* 
his switch, and flashed out a call. 

‘‘ 3 ARM deSADH,” he signalled, trying to quiet 
his pounding heart and steady his trembling hand. 

“ 3ADH de 3 ARM — K,” came back the instant 
response. 

“ They have discovered me,” flashed Alec. 


A LONG CHASE 


231 


Shark is bearing do^vn on the Osprey. I hear 
them hailing. Tell your father to hurry. Good- 
bye — guardian.” 

White-faced, aquiver with fear, Elsa flashed back 
a reply and waited. But no answer came ringing 
in her ears. For out in the lawless darkness of the 
Bay, the Shark had swung to, a dark figure had 
leaped to the deck of the Osprey, a light had flashed 
in his cabin, revealing Alec’s identity, and he had 
been dragged roughly to the deck of his little ship. 
With furious curses he had been flung aboard the 
Shark. 

“ Kill him ! Throw him overboard ! Hang the 
spy ! ” cried the angry crew, and the lawless Haw- 
kins had dealt him a furious blow with his fist, fell- 
ing Alec to the deck! 

He knew that he must act at once if he was to 
save his life. Trembling with fear, he sprang to 
his feet. The shell gatherer, Wallace, leaped to- 
ward him. 

“ If you lay a hand on me,” cried Alec, trying his 
best to appear courageous, ‘‘ you’ll go to prison 
for it.” 

At the word prison, the pirate captain step]3ed 
foi*ward. “ I reckon we’ll go to prison if we don’t,” 
he bawled, in his awful voice. “ We’ve got to put 
him out of the road, boys.” 

“ Captain Rumford knows I’m here,” said Alec 
desperately. “ He’ll be here himself pretty soon 
with some men you won’t want to see. He’s on the 
way now. I’ve been talking to him by wireless.” 


232 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

Alec did not know that the captain was coming 
to his rescue. But it was his only chance to save his 
life. He must carry the bluff through. 

“ You’re a liar,” shrieked Captain Hardy. 

“ I tell the truth. Didn’t you find me at my 
wireless? ” 

“ Did you?” roared the captain, turning to the 
sailor who had dragged Alec from his cabin. 

“ He was working at some sort of an outfit. It 
might have been a wireless for all I know.” 



“ Hell! ” roared the skipper. 


^ He leveled his glasses. Afar off a glow of light 
became visible. The party on the deck of the Shark 
watched it breathlessly. It came on and on. Sud- 
denly a great beam of light shot through the dark- 
ness, and moved slowly across the water. A search- 
light was sweeping the night. 

“ It’s the Dianthus/' roared the pirate skipper. 
“ Our goose is cooked.” With sudden fury he 
turned upon Alec. “ It’ll be state’s prison for 
mine,” he roared, “ but before I go I’ll fix you. 
You’ll never spy on another man.” 

He leaped toward Alec. The lad shrank back in 
terror. He believed the desperate oysterman meant 
to kill him instantly. Still he kept a grip upon 
himself. 

“ If you harm me,” he cried sternly, “ it will be 
more than state’s prison for you. It’ll be the elec- 
tric chair.” 

At that instant the search-light of the Dianthus 
was turned fairly on the pirate ship. The little 


A LONG CHASE 


233 


group on her deck stood out like actors in a spot 
light. 

“ Hell! ” roared the infuriated Hardy again, as 
he stepped back from Alec, his features working 
convulsively as he gazed in impotent rage at the 
oncoming guard-boat. 

In a few minutes more the Dianthus ran along- 
side, and armed men came swarming over the side 
of the Shark, At their head were Captain Rum- 
ford and big Jim Hawley. 


CHAPTER XIX 


HOME AGAIN 

W ITH a bound, big Jim Hawley was at Alec’s 
side. “ Did they hurt you, lad? ” he cried. 

“ Not much,” replied Alec, “ but I guess they 
would have killed me if you hadn’t come.” 

Alec turned partly away to watch what was do- 
ing, The light fell on his face so that the raw, 
red mark from the blow, now rapidly turning black, 
stood out plainly. ' 

“ Who did that? ” demanded Hawley. 

“ Hawkins.” 

“Jim!” rang out Captain Rumford’s voice, as 
Hawley leaped toward the cowering bully. Haw- 
ley stopped in his tracks. “ We’ve had enough 
violence already. Let him alone.” 

The shipper turned to the commander of the 
Dianthus. “ You wanted evidence before you 
would make an arrest,” he said. “ Here’s your 
evidence.” He pointed toward the pile of seed- 
oysters on the deck of the Shark, Then he faced 
Alec. “ You saw them dredged, did you not? ” 

“ Yes, sir. They came out of the bed just to 
starboard, sir.” 

Again the shipper faced the captain of the 
Dianthus. “ That’s my bed and these are my 
234 


HOME AGAIN 


235 


oysters. I charge these men with theft and also 
with assault and battery on this lad.” 

“ You are under arrest,” said the guardsman to 
the crewj^f the Shark, “ and we will shoot at the 
slightest attempt at resistance.” He turned to his 
men. “ Search them,” he commanded. 

A revolver and an ugly dirk were found on 
Plardy. Wallace had some brass knuckles in his 
pocket. The others were not armed. 

“ We’ll just add a charge of carrying concealed 
weapons when these two are arraigned,” said the 
captain of the Dianthus. 

‘‘ You’ll have to watch them,” said Captain Rum- 
ford. “ They’re a desperate lot. They won’t go 
to prison without a struggle.” 

“ We won’t take any chances with them,” said 
the captain of the guard-boat. “ Get your irons, 
men.” 

The guardsmen produced handcuffs and in an- 
other moment Hardy and his band of desperadoes 
were securely shackled. Then they were taken 
aboard the guard-ship. 

‘‘ We’ll h^hg the Shark in,” said the shipper. 
“ You take care of your passengers.” 

‘‘ Hoist the sailing lights,” said the shipper, as 
the Dianthus moved away into the darkness. 

Alec pulled out his flash-light and hunted about 
in the SharJ/s cabin until he found her lanterns. He 
lighted them. While Jim Hawley hoisted the 
white light aloft, Alec was fastening the red and 
green lights in the rigging. 


236 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOB 

“ Now make the Osprey fast astern,” ordered the 
shipper. 

Alec leaped aboard the little craft and pushed 
her along the side of the Shark, while Hawley 
pulled on a rope from her bow. In a moment the 
Osprey floated astern and Alec was back on the 
Shark. 

“ Haul those sheets a bit tighter,” called the 
shipper. 

Alec and Hawley obeyed the command. The 
shipper twirled his wheel, the Shark slovAy gathered 
headway, and in a moment was sailing briskly on 
the starboard tack. 

“ Now, you young rascal,” said Captain Rum- 
ford, when the Shark was fairly under way, “ tell 
me what all this means. Whatever led you to do 
such a foolhardy trick? You had us nearly scared 
to death. Didn’t you know that those fellows are 
a desperate lot? It’s God’s mercy alone that pre- 
vented them from murdering you.” 

“ I think your own arrival had a lot more to do 
with it,” laughed Alec. Then his face grew very 
sober. “ I think they really meant to kill me,” he 
said. ‘‘ I know they would at least have beaten me 
badlv if the Dianthus hadn’t appeared when she 
did.’’ 

“ Tell us all about it,” urged the shipper. “ How 
did you ever learn that Hardy intended to raid my 
bed, and what in the world ever made you do such 
a foolish thing as to follow him all alone? ” 

Alec explained how he had overheard the con- 


HOME AGAIN 237 

versation in the cabin. “ You should have told me 
at once,” said the shipper. 

“ I started to tell you,” said Alec. “ Then I was 
ashamed to bother you until I had something more 
definite to tell you. I was afraid you would think 
I was suffering from a bad imagination. So I 
decided to wait until I had something really definite. 
I followed the Shark out to the oyster-beds, keeping 
far enough back of her to escape discovery. At the 
mouth of the river I stopped and told Elsa where I 
was and what I was doing.” 

“ It’s a mighty good thing for you, lad, that you 
did. If you had waited half an hour longer, we 
might never have seen you again. You’ve had a 
narrower shave than you think, lad. The Dianthus 
just happened to be in the harbor. Her captain 
came up this afternoon to see me about some busi- 
ness matters. There wasn’t another boat in the 
river that could have got to you anywhere near as 
quick. The minute Elsa told me what you were 
up to, I jumped in my car and raced over to Bi- 
valve. The captain was just boarding a trolley-car 
to go away for the night. He didn’t want to come. 
Said he could arrest the oyster thieves any time I 
had the evidence ready. I told him it wasn’t a 
question of oysters but of your life and that he had 
to come. And you should have seen us come, lad. 
The captain crowded on everything he had. But 
what I don’t understand is how you prevented those 
ruffians from murdering you, once they had you in 
their power.” 


238 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

“ They were going to murder me,” said Alec, his 
cheek paling at the memory of his danger. “ I 
don’t believe there’s any doubt of it. But I bluffed 
them.” And Alec related what had happened on 
the deck of the Shark. “ If the Dianthus hadn’t 
shown her light just when she did,” he said soberly, 
“ I don’t believe I would be talking to you now.” 

“ Watch that boom,” cried the captain. “ I’m 
going to come about.” 

Alec dodged as the boom swept across the deck. 
Suddenly he thought of Elsa, standing by at the 
wireless. “ Oh, Captain! ” he cried. “ I must go 
aboard the Osprey. Elsa said she would stand by 
in case I needed to call her again.” 

“ I reckon you’ll have to talk to her, Alec,” re- 
plied the shipper. “ She was just scared to death 
when she got your message.” 

The captain swung the ship straight into the 
wind. The sails began to flap. The boat lost head- 
way. Big Jim Hawley laid his hand on the 
Osprey’s line and hauled the little craft close beside 
the Shark. Alec stepped aboard of her. Flash- 
light in hand, he made his way into the cabin and 
sat down at his instrument. 

“ 3ARM— 3ARM— 3ARM de3ADH— 3ADH 
— 3ADH,” he signalled. 

Instantly came the response. 

“ Everything O. K.,” flashed Alec. Dianthus 
arrived and took Hardy and his crew ashore. No 
difficulty. Nobody hurt. Your father, Jim, and 
I are bringing back the Shark. We’re some dis- 


HOME AGAIN 


239 


tance off the bar now. Dianthus is already in the 
river. Don’t know how to thank you for your help. 
I think you saved my life. Will tell you about it 
when I see you.” 

“ I want to see you to-night,” flashed back Elsa. 

“ Impossible,” telegraphed Alec. “ Won’t be in 
until very late.” 

“ I won’t take no for an answer. You must come 
home with Dad. Say you will.” 

“ Maybe he won’t take me,” signalled Alec. 

“ Tell him if he comes home without you I’ll 
never forgive him.” 

Outside Alec heard the captain bawling, “Are 
you going to talk all night? ” 

“ Good-bye,” flashed Alec, and stepped out on 
deck. Then, “Aye, aye, sir,” he called. “ Be there 
as soon as I hoist this light.” He lighted his 
lantern and ran it aloft. Then he climbed aboard 
the Shark, 

“ Your daughter ordered me to tell you, sir,” he 
said, “that she’ll never forgive you if you don’t 
bring your wireless man home with you.” 

“ Oh! She did, eh? I suppose the wireless man 
has no wishes in the matter himself 1 ” 

Alec blushed. “ Captain Rumford,” he said, 
“ you know I like to come to your house whenever 
I properly can. It’s more like home to me than 
any other place in the world.” 

“ God bless you, lad! ” said the shipper, his tone 
instantly changing. “We should have missed you 
sadly if anything had happened to you to-night. 


240 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

You certainly shall go home with me and you shall 
spend the night there. I don’t like the idea of your 
sleeping alone on that little boat, after what has 
happened. Remember now. Y ou must watch like 
a hawk or somebody will get you. Hardy and his 
gang have lots of friends, and if they get a good 
chance they’ll harm you. So be on your guard at 
all times and places.” 

‘‘ Thank you, sir,” said Alec. “ I don’t think 
they’ll catch me off my guard. I’ve had enough ex- 
perience since I came to Bivalve to make a statue 
watchful.” 

Quickly the Shark gathered headway, and was 
soon bowling along toward her pier. “ She’s a nice 
stepper,” said the shipper. “ She’s built for speed. 
I reckon old Hardy found speed useful in his busi- 
ness. But I guess he’ll soon learn that slow but 
sure is a good motto after all. I think he’ll make a 
pretty long visit to Trenton. And I don’t believe 
he’ll ever show his face around here again. He’s 
done as an oysterman, at least at Bivalve.” 

Captain Rumford fell into a brown study. He 
was so deep in thought that he almost forgot what 
he was doing, which was something very unusual. 

Presently Hawley spoke out of the darkness 
forward, where he was on watch. “ Hadn’t we 
better go about, Cap’n? ” he said in a deep, quiet 
voice. 

Captain Rumford woke up with a start, strained 
his eyes into the darkness, then twirled his wheel 
like mad. “ Look out for the boom! ” he said, then 


HOME AGAIN 


241 


added, with a laugh, “ Wouldn’t they have given 
me the laugh if I had laid the Shark up on the bank. 
And she’d have been there in about sixty seconds 
more.” 

The Shark wore away on the other tack, but 
Captain Rumford did not forget himself again. 
“ Jim,” he called pi’esently. 

'‘Aye, aye, sir,” came the big sailor’s response 
from the forepeak hatch where he was sitting. 

“ Come here a moment.” 

As the big sailor made his way aft, the shipper 
said, “ Hawley, it kind of runs in my mind that 
you once had some sort of a claim to Hardy’s 
oyster-beds. Am I right? ” 

“ I owned them once,” said Hawley. 

“You owned them! Why, I never knew that. 
How’d Hardy come to get them? ” 

“You see, sir, I staked out them beds years ago 
when everybody else was plantin’ in shallow water. 
You know them beds is out deep. Everybody 
laughed at me. Of course I never had no outfit 
to work ’em, but I figured that some day I might 
get a boat somehow. And then, too, I noticed that 
every year planters were putting seed farther out. 
I figured they’d reach my beds after a bit, and if I 
couldn’t do anything more, I could at least get a 
few loads of shells down and maybe get a set of 
spat from the other beds. And I would, too, if I 
had kept hold of them beds. Why, Lord bless you ! 
Look where they are now — right in the middle of 
the oyster-beds.” 


242 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 

“ Why didn’t you hang on to them, Jim? ” 

The big sailor hung his head. “ I got to drinkin’. 
Cap’ll. You know how I used to hit it up. Hardy 
got me into a poker game, and when all my money 
was gone, I put up my oyster-beds and he got them, 
too. I reckon he had a crooked deck, too.” 

“ I reckon you’re right. Everything about that 
fellow seems to have been crooked.” 

For a time there was silence. The Shark sailed 
swiftly on. She was now well up the river. Soon 
the solitary light at Bivalve shone close at hand. 
Then the shipper laid the Shark skilfully 
alongside the pier. They bade good night to Haw- 
ley, and in another moment Alec and the shipper 
were bowling homeward in the captain’s motor-car. 
At least it seemed to Alec as though he were going 
home. 

It seemed even more like home when the shipper 
threw open the door and ushered Alec into the big 
house. For his own mother and sister could hardly 
have given Alec a more cordial welcome than Mrs. 
Rumford and Elsa gave him. Despite that wel- 
come Alec suddenly became self-conscious and 
bashful. He was embarrassed by the warmth of 
the greeting given him. Also he saw in Elsa’s eyes 
a light he had never seen there before. Had he but 
known it, a similar light was shining in his own 
eyes. His heart beat with strange and unaccus- 
tomed irregularity. More than once he flushed like 
a schoolgirl. He felt curiously awkward and at 
the same time unaccountably happy. Now he real- 


HOME AGAIN 


243 


ized that Elsa would never be the same to him in 
future as she had been in the past. His lonely vigil 
in the dark, his hour of supreme danger when only 
the hand of this girl comrade thrust out through the 
night had saved him from death, had revealed to 
him the inner meaning of the friendship that had 
sprung up between them. 

A question arose in his mind, a question that 
seemed more important to him than anything else 
in the world. Yet he could not ask that question, 
and he knew it would be a long, long time before 
he dared. Still he did not need to ask any question 
to learn his answer. He could read it in Elsa’s 
eyes. The hour of peril, when she had sat in mute 
apprehension, listening, listening, listening, breath- 
less in her fear, had told Elsa also that she could 
never again think of Alec in the old way. 

So, although Alec at first was unaccountably ill 
at ease, he was happier than he had ever been in his 
life. He was happy in what he saw in Elsa’s eyes. 
He was also happy in the thought that he had been 
true to the shipper, that he had not betrayed the 
captain’s confidence, that he had really saved his 
friend and benefactor from great loss. And that 
was no little thing for a lad still in his teens. 

Of course time went by unobserved. Nobody at 
that Rumford household cared a farthing that night 
how fast the time went or how late it was. Once 
more Alec had to relate every incident in connection 
with his adventure, from the moment he left the 
Rumford house in the early evening to the moment 


244 THE YOUNG ^YIEELESS OPEEATOE 

he returned to it after his rescue from the oyster 
pirates. 

When all the story had been dragged from the 
reluctant lad, the shipj)er once more expressed his 
opinion of Alec’s folly in wasting his time over the 
silly notion that a microscope and a thimbleful of 
sea water would tell him anything about the value 
for oyster-culture of a piece of land three fathoms 
under the waves. Instantly Elsa flew to Alec’s 
defense. 

“ Now, father,” she said, “Alec is doing just 
what he ought to do, and you ought to be the last 
person in the world to discourage him. He’s go- 
ing to find out the truth even if he doesn’t find the 
oysters he hopes to, and that’s worth a lot.” 

“ Well, all he finds out won’t begin to make up 
for the money he’ll lose while he’s finding it out,” 
said the shipper dogmatically. “If there had 
really been anything to find out, don’t you suppose 
we would have found it out in all these years? 
Why, I’ve been oystering thirty years and I never 
heard of such nonsense before. But I suppose 
boys will be boys. We all have to have our fling. 
Now that I know you’re both so set on this foolish- 
ness I wouldn’t say another word if it wasn’t for 
this business to-night. Alec means to live aboard 
the Osjjrey most of the summer and I don’t like the 
idea. Why, anybody can come aboard of her in the 
middle of the night and do anything he likes. We 
can’t always be waiting on the wireless to get this 
youngster out of trouble. I tell you I don’t like it.” 


HOME AGAIN 


246 


At the mention of danger to Alec, Elsa’s face 
went pale. Presently she fell into a brown study, 
from which she awoke only when she heard her 
father say, “For goodness sake! Look at the 
clock! We must be getting to bed.” 

He and Mrs. Rumford bustled off, after bidding 
Alec a hearty good night. “ Now, don’t you 
youngsters stay up any longer,” said the captain, 
when Elsa lingered behind. 

“We won’t,” said Elsa. Then she turned to 
Alec. “ It makes me sick to think of you alone in 
the Osprey at night, now that you have had this 
trouble with Tom Hardy. Yet you mustn’t quit 
your investigation, either, Alec. Won’t you come 
home at night and sleep ashore? ” 

“ I can’t, Elsa. Think of all the time I should 
waste, sailing back and forth. I can never get over 
all the oyster grounds as it is. But I can do a great 
deal if I am right on the job all the time. And be- 
sides, I don’t really believe there’s any danger at 
all. That gang has had a lesson that will make 
them pretty careful. They have seen what wireless 
will do, and they can never be sure what I might do 
with it.” 

“You mustn’t trust to the wireless, Alec. You 
must be on your guard all the time. If you insist 
upon sleeping in the Osprey , you must pass the 
nights where nobody can find you. I know a place 
where you can hide easily, where you couldn’t be 
found in a week. To-morrow I’m going out to the 
Bay with you and show you the place. I shall feel 


246 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 


better about you when I know you are safe there at 
night. I wouldn’t ever run in to the place until 
after dark. Then if you douse your light nobody 
can see where you go, and your hiding-place will 
never be known.” 

“ Bully for you! ” cried Alec. ‘‘ I needed help 
to-morrow the worst way possible. I’m going to 
study old Hardy’s oyster-beds, and I want to make 
the best job possible.” 

“ Whenever you need help, Alec, don’t hesitate 
to ask me. I’ll help you whenever I can.” 

“ Elsa,” said Alec, his eyes shining, “ nobody 
ever had a better friend than you have been to me. 

I owe my life to you. I can’t tell you ” He 

broke off short, afraid to say any more. 

Just then a great voice boomed in the hallway. 
“Are you youngsters going to talk all night? ” 

“ Good night,” said Elsa. She held out her 
hand to Alec. And he was a surprisingly long tim^ 
letting go of it. 


CHAPTER XX 


THE osprey's nest 

D espite the late hour of retirement, the 
shipper’s household was astir at the usual time 
next morning, and that was pretty early. The 
minute breakfast was eaten the shipper hurried 
away to superintend the overhauling of his boats, 
and Elsa and Alec drove to the oyster wharf, laden 
with a generous luncheon that Mrs. Rumford had 
packed for them. 

“ We’ll need a setting-pole,” said Elsa, as they 
were about to board the Osprey, “ It will be nec- 
essary to push the boat into the little harbor I’m 
going to show you.” 

Alec borrowed a setting-pole and the two were 
soon afloat. The day promised to be hot. The 
sun had risen like a ball of fire. Hardly a cloud 
flecked the wide expanse of blue sky. But there 
was a fair breeze blowing, which promised to tem- 
per the heat. But neither Elsa nor Alec cared 
whether it was hot or cold. They were together, 
and they were engaged in a business of prime im- 
portance. Life had a zest that could have been 
found in no mere idle holiday. 

247 


248 


THE YOUKG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 


With business of such imj)ortance to perform, 
they could not wait for the winds to carry them, but 
Alec started his motor and the Osprey went chug- 
ging swiftly toward the oyster grounds. About 
them rose a very sea of reeds and other marsh 
growths, now beautiful in their soft green, summer 
hues, and stretching level as a floor. 

In a surprisingly short time the Osprey had 
crossed the bar and was fairly in the Bay. The 
gray-green water rolled so gently before the soft 
breath of the wind that the Osprey rose and fell 
hardly at all. Occasionally a little wave came slap ! 
against the boat, sending a shower of spray aboard, 
but the occupants of the boat merely laughed when 
they were sprinkled. 

Suddenly Alec bent forward and fastened his 
gaze on some distant object. Then, after a mo- 
ment’s study, “ What do you suppose those white 
things are on those stakes? ” he asked. 

Elsa looked. “ Pieces of white cloth,” she said 
after some study. 

Alec was puzzled. “ You notice that all four 
corners of the bed are marked with white,” he said. 

The Osprey drew near to the marked stakes. 
Alec turned and faced landward. “ I know what 
it means,” he cried. “ That’s your father’s new 
bed. It’s right in line with both sets of landmarks. 
Those thieves must have marked the stakes some- 
time during the day, so that they could see the cor- 
ners easily in the dark. It can’t be very much 
farther to Tom Hardy’s bed. Hawley told me 


THE OSPEEY’S NEST 


249 


how to locate it. I reckon it’ll be on the market 
before long. I want to have a good look at it.” 

Alec paused to think over Hawley’s directions. 
“ There! ” he cried suddenly. “ See that dead tree 
with the fish-hawk’s nest in it? It’s just in line 
with those three big oaks that stand by themselves. 
We’re all right in that direction. Off here we 
ought to have a little clump of trees directly in line 
with the first range-light.” He turned and studied 
the shore-line in the other direction. “There! 
Now we’ve got it exactly,” he cried a moment later. 
“ This must be Hardy’s bed.” 

“ There are some corner stakes,” said Elsa. And 
after a moment’s search, she added, “ There is an- 
other corner.” 

Quickly they found a third corner, but the stakes 
that marked the fourth corner were missing en- 
tirely. “ It doesn’t matter,” said Alec. “ Three 
corners are just as good as four. This bed looks as 
though it were oblong and at least twice as wide as 
it is long. When he staked it out, I suppose Jim 
Hawley reckoned he could dredge faster if he could 
plow long furrows, as the farmers back home would 
say. It isn’t a bad idea. I’ll keep it in mind when 
I lay out my gi’ounds. It’s making so many turns 
that wastes time, whether you’re dredging or plow- 
ing.” 

“ What shall we do first? ” said Elsa. “ Let’s 
get right to work.” 

“ We’ll take soundings,” said Alec. “ We’ll 
make a few turns right across one end of the bed. 


250 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

then try it lengthwise. We want to make a very 
thorough study of these grounds, for if Captain 
Hardy didn’t steal his oysters, then he’s got a very 
good bed.” 

From the cabin Alec brought a big sheet of 
paper, which he fastened to the cabin-top. On it 
he marked the positions of the four corner stakes. 
“ This will give us plenty of room to make notes 
on,” he said. “ Later we can copy what we like on 
the map of the beds. I’ll just put down the date 
and the state of the tide and the weather.” He 
wrote on the paper and handed his pencil to Elsa. 
“ I’ll sound if you’ll make the entries,” he sug- 
gested. 

“ I can steer, too,” said Elsa. She took the pa- 
per and sat down by the tiller. 

Alec closed the throttle of the engine. The Os- 
prey at once dropped to very low speed. Alec got 
his line ready, and lowered it. “ Fifteen feet,” he 
called. Elsa entered the figures on the temporary 
chart. A few fathoms away he cast the lead again. 
“ Fourteen feet, nine inches,” he called. A few 
rods farther along the line registered fifteen feet, 
one inch. So it went straight across the bed, the 
bottom being practically level. 

“ I’ll make one more cast,” said Alec. “ Then 
you swing her to port and we’ll cut right back 
across the bed again.” 

The Osprey was almost at the outer boundary of 
the grounds. Alec dropped his lead. “ Hello ! ” 
he cried in surprise, as he watched the line. “Got 


THE OSPEEY’S NEST 


261 


eighteen feet here! That’s funny. Just keep her 
straight for a few rods. I want to see how wide 
this hole is.” The depth continued constant at 
eighteen feet. “ That’s queer,” commented Alec. 
“ Bring her about. We’ll see how it is a few fath- 
oms farther down-stream.” 

Elsa brought the Osprey about as directed. 
“ Still eighteen feet,” said Alec, sounding repeat- 
edly. They came to the boundary of Hardy’s bed. 
“ Eighteen feet,” called Alec. Before Elsa could 
get it written down, he called again, “ Fifteen 
feet.” And eighteen feet it continued all the way 
across the bed. 

Once more they came about and crossed the bed 
still farther down-stream. Again the lead showed 
fifteen feet, almost to the edge of the bed, when the 
line suddenly paid out an additional three feet. 

“ We’ll just cover the entire bed this way,” said 
Alec, “ instead of running lengthwise as we had 
planned. It looks to me as though there is a regu- 
lar trough in the bottom, running right along the 
edge of this bed. I’d like to know how wide and 
how long it is. I wonder what ever could have 
scooped out such a fuiTOw in the mud.” 

They kept on, crossing and recrossing the oyster- 
bed, until they had sounded it from end to end. 
And at every trip across the bed they got practi- 
cally the same figures — fifteen feet in Captain 
Hardy’s grounds and eighteen along the edge. 

“ Do you know,” said Alec, when he had finished 
sounding and had reeled up the line, “ I once read 


262 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 

that the Hudson River can be followed to sea for 
three hundred miles. That is, there is a distinct 
furrow or channel in the ocean bottom leading 
straight from the mouth of the Hudson, as though 
something had come down that stream and gouged 
a great ditch in the ocean floor. I reckon it must 
have been done centuries ago by glacial ice or some- 
thing of the sort. Anyway, it looks to me as though 
there is something like that ditch right here in the 
bottom of the Delaware Bay.” 

“ I wonder what could have made it? ” queried 
Elsa. “ Would it make any difference in the oys- 
ter-beds along it? ” 

“By George!” cried Alec, suddenly afire with 
an idea. “ It would make a thundering big slick, 
that’s what it would do, and if my oyster bulletin is 
correct, that ought to be a prime place for larvae.” 
He began to examine the water carefully. “ That’s 
exactly what it does,” he cried, after studying the 
water far and wide. “ We’re right in the slick 
now. It’s so big we didn’t notice it.” 

“ I guess we were too busy talking to pay atten- 
tion,” suggested Elsa, “ or we should have noticed 
it long ago.” 

“ Well, I can hardly wait to test the water and 
see what we find,” said Alec. “ Conditions are just 
right this morning. The tide has about three feet 
to rise yet. There ought to be as many oyster fry 
swimming about now as there ever will be. We’ll 
make as many tests as we can. And we won’t 
strain out SQ much water as we did the other time. 


THE OSPEEY’S NEST 


263 


It takes too long. If we test twenty-five quarts of 
water, that will give us enough to go on. Then we 
can make more tests.” 

Quickly Alec had his instruments ready and they 
began to strain water from the bottom through the 
bolting-cloth net. Then the sediment was washed 
into a bottle. While that was settling, they moved 
on to another spot and strained more water. So 
they continued until they had several bottles set- 
tling. 

“ Now you begin to count the larvae,” suggested 
Elsa. “ The sediment has all settled in those bot- 
tles that we filled first. I will strain out more water 
while you are using the microscope.” 

As rapidly as he could, Alec got the sediment on 
his watch crystals and counted the larvsd. As long 
as he could hold himself to the trying task Alec con- 
tinued with his eye to the microscope, picking over 
the crystalfuls of sediment with his little needles. 

“ The water’s full of them,” he cried at last, leav- 
ing his microscope. “ It’s been a mighty poor 
spawning season, with so much cold weather, 
though it’s warm enough to-day. Yet right here 
there is no end to the spat. There are ten times as 
many larvee here as we found in that ground we 
tested the other day. Why, that twenty-five quarts 
yielded 3,400 laiwge,” and he picked up the bottle 
he had just emptied. “ The bed’s just swarming 
with spat.” 

He stepped to the engine and threw on more 
power. Then he took the tiller. “ I want to test 


254 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 


a sample from that trough or ditch. And by the 
way, I’ll just sound as we go.” 

He got out the sounding-line again, and Elsa 
steered the boat while Alec took soundings. Al- 
most uniformly the depth continued at eighteen 
feet. 

“ We must have come five hundred yards,” said 
Alec. “ We’ll try it here.” He stopped the en- 
gine, and they strained twenty-five quarts of water 
from the bottom. When it had settled sufficiently, 
Alec worked the sediment out on a watch crystal. 
Then he began to count. 

“Now what do you think of that!” he cried, 
when he had finished his count. “ Only twenty-five 
larvse I could be sure of in all that water! It’s just 
as the book says. The fry are all collected in that 
slick. That bed of Hardy’s must be one of the 
very best in the Bay. If only Jim still owned it! ” 

By this time it was long past the dinner hour, but 
the two had been so intent on their work that they 
had paid no attention to the time. Now, however, 
Alec suddenly awoke to the fact that he was raven- 
ous. “ I could eat a shark,” he cried. “ Let’s go 
to the shore at once and have dinner.” 

He started the engine and they headed for the 
point where they had previously eaten. With the 
tide so well up, they had little difficulty in getting 
ashore. Alec gathered dry sticks and fixed the fire- 
place, while Elsa unpacked the basket Mrs. Rum- 
ford had given them. Among other things, there 
was a fine cut of beefsteak. 


THE OSPEEY'S NEST 


266 


“Oh boy!” exclaimed Alec, when he saw it. 
“ I’m so hungry I could eat it raw.” 

His fire was already ablaze. He let it bum 
down to coals, then added a few twigs at a time. 
Over this tiny flame Elsa cooked the steak in a little 
skillet. Alec, meantime, brought water from the 
Osprey and got the coffee ready to cook the instant 
the steak was done. He also placed a heavy blan- 
ket on the ground under the sheltering tree, and 
here they spread out all the good things Mrs.* Rum- 
ford had given them. There were pickles and hard- 
boiled eggs, and sandwiches, and cakes, not to men- 
tion bread and butter and jelly, the steak and the 
coffee. 

“ Gracious! ” said Alec, when the basket was at 
last empty. “ Your mother must have thought she 
was packing lunch for a regiment.” 

“ She has seen hoys eat before,” said Elsa mis- 
chievously. 

“ From which I infer,” retorted Alec, “ that you 
do not wish anything to eat yourself. It’s just as 
well, for I think I can get away with all that steak 
myself. Please pass it over.” 

He took the frying-pan away from her, but it 
was only because the steak was cooked and he 
wanted to sling the coffee-pot over the fire. 

Elsa looked distressed. “Aren’t you going to 
give me any of that steak? ” she cried in pretended 
consternation. 

“ I understand from your remarks that this was 
all intended for me,” teased Alec. 


256 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 


“ It will be first-degree murder if you don’t give 
me some,” said Elsa. “ I’ll surely die of starva- 
tion in a few minutes if I don’t get something to 
eat.” 

At the word murder, the fun died out of Alec’s 
eyes. “ Please don’t,” he said, “ not even in fun. 
That word murder has come to have a very ugly 
sound to me in the last twenty-four hours.” 

They were silent a moment. Then such a soft 
light crept into Elsa’s eyes that Alec had to jump 
up and tend the fire to keep control of himself. 

At last the meal was eaten. “ I’m too full to do 
another stroke of work,” said Alec. 

“ Then we’ll go take a look at the little harbor I 
have picked out for you.” 

They poured water on the fire to make sure it 
was completely exting^iished, then gathered up the 
remnants of the feast, and once more boarded the 
Osprey, For half a mile they chugged along the 
shore. Then they came abreast of a little clump of 
trees that rose some few hundred feet inland, ap- 
parently in the very heart of the marsh. 

“ There’s your harbor,” said Elsa, pointing to the 
tree clump. 

“ But how are we going to get to it? ” demanded 
Alec, searching everywhere for an inlet. 

“ Wait until the largest two trees come in line,” 
said Elsa. “ Then go straight in.” 

Alec slowed down the Osprey and continued 
along the shore until the trees indicated were in line. 
Then he headed directly toward them. In the reeds 


THE OSPEEY^S NEST 


257 


that lined the shore he noted a tiny opening, like the 
mouth of the merest tunnel; but it proved to be 
both wider and deeper than he would have believed. 
The reeds that choked the little channel bent to 
right and left as the Osprey slowly forged ahead, 
then swiftly righted themselves, forming a screen 
behind the boat. Had there been no mast in the 
Osprey, she would have been completely concealed 
before she had gone a hundred feet. The clump of 
trees stood not more than five hundred feet from the 
open water of the Bay. The little channel ran al- 
most straight toward it. Alec shut off his engine 
and pushed the Osprey along with the setting-pole. 
The little boat slipped through the reeds as quietly 
as a floating duck. As they came near the trees, 
Alec saw that there were really two clumps of them 
standing close together on two tiny islands, with the 
tiniest little channel between them. Alec pushed 
the Osprey forward until it came to rest in this little 
channel, directly between the two islands. So nar- 
row was this passage that he could almost have 
stepped ashore on either side of this boat. 

“ Now we are completely hidden,” said Elsa. 
“ The reeds hide the hull of the boat and the trees 
conceal the mast and rigging. A person out on 
the Bay could search this clump for an hour with 
the most powerful telescope and I doubt if he 
would ever discover there is a boat moored here. 
It’s the finest little hiding-place I know of. It has 
one drawback, though. You can’t get in and out 
when the tide is real low.” 


258 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 

Alec gazed about him with delight. The snug 
little harbor made him think of a pirate’s refuge. 
“ It certainly is a bully hiding-place,” he said, 
“ though I suppose most of the old-timers here- 
about know of it.” 

“ I very much doubt it,” said Elsa. 

“ Then how did you come to know about it? ” 

‘‘ Found it myself,” explained Elsa. “ Dad left 
me to hunt ducks along the shore, while he put 
down some stakes in an oyster-bed near by. I 
wounded a duck that got away from me. It swam 
into this little channel and I followed it. That’s 
how I came to discover this place. I don’t believe 
many folks know about it, for I told Dad about it 
and he had never heard of it.” 

“ Well, anyway, it makes no difference,” said 
Alec. “ I have no idea anybody is going to bother 
me, and if I slip in here after dark and don’t show 
any lights, I don’t think anybody would ever find 
me. What do you call the place? ” 

“ I never named it,” said Elsa. 

“ You didn’t? It ought to have a name, sure. 
What shall we call it? We’ll give it a name, and 
that will be a secret all our own.” 

‘‘ I know,” cried Elsa. “ We’ll call this the Os- 
prey's Nest.” 

“ Fine! That’s a dandy name. And it’s such a 
good name for a secret hiding-place. If anybody 
heard us talking about it they would think we 
meant one of those old trees that have real fish- 
hawks’ nests in them, When you hear the name 


THE OSPEEY'S NEST 


259 


osprey’s nest come buzzing in your receiver, you’ll 
know I’m as safe and snug as can be. Why, just 
to tell you I’m at the osprey’s nest would mean a 
whole lot, wouldn’t it? And, by the way, you can 
spare a few moments now and then to talk with me 
with your wireless, can’t you? ” 

“Alec!” said Elsa reproachfully. “When I 
shall hardly see you all summer! Of course. I’ll 
talk to you. But I mustn’t keep you from your 
work. You mustn’t let me do that, Alec, for I 
want you to go on with it and make just the great 
success that I know you are going to.” 

“ Well, when shall I call you? You won’t always 
be at home, you know.” 

“ I’ll tell you what. I’ll listen in at one o’clock 
and at seven, and when Arlington sends out the 
time, whenever I’m at home; and that will be most 
always.” 

“ Thank you,” said Alec. “ It will be pretty 
lonely out here all by myself.” He glanced at 
the clock in the cabin. “Whew!” he whistled. 
“ Look at the time. We must be getting to work 
at once.” 

“All right. What shall we do first? ” 

“ I ought to finish this work with the microscope. 
These larvse ought to have a few drops of formalde- 
hyde on them if they aren’t counted pretty soon; 
and I haven’t any. So I guess I’ll go on with my 
counting.” 

“ Then we might just as well stay here,” said 
Elsa. “ It’s a good deal cooler here in the shade of 


260 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

the trees than it would be out on the water. It’s 
too bad there’s nothing I can do to help you. Are 
you sure there’s nothing I can do? ” 

Alec looked at his comrade steadily for a mo- 
ment. “ Elsa,” he said, “ did you ever read that 
beautiful poem of Milton’s in which there is a line 
that says something like this : ‘ They also seiwe who 
only stand and wait ’? You know the reserves are 
like that. They don’t seem to be doing much, for 
a fact, but the fellows in the front line fight a heap 
sight better just because they know their comrades 
are back there, ready to aid them when necessary. 
So I wouldn’t say anything more about not being of 
use. You know it’s been pretty tough going for 
me these last few months since Dad died and I had 
nobody to fall back on. I can’t tell you what it 
means to me to have your friendship and that of 
your father and mother.” 

“ Thank you, Alec,” said Elsa. “ That’s a very 
fine thing to say. I never thought of the matter in 
just that way before. You know I really do want 
to help you, and I don’t care whether I help by 
really assisting in your work or merely by being 
with you, now that you put it in that way. The 
point is to get the work done. Oh ! I think so much 
is going to come of all this that I am as eager as 
can be to get the work finished. Now you attend 
to your microscope and I’ll amuse myself with your 
wireless.” 

For a long time there was silence on the Osprey. 
Elsa sat with the receivers strapped to her ears, now 


THE OSPEEY’S NEST 


261 


shifting the coupler, now moving a condenser, now 
tuning to this wave-length, now to that. 

That’s strange,” Alec heard her mutter to her- 
self, after a long time. 

‘‘ What’s strange? ” he asked. 

“ Why, somebody has been calling and calling 
Cape May. And he doesn’t get any answer. I 
can’t understand it. I haven’t any idea who is talk- 
ing. I never heard his call before. He’s WNA.” 

With a bound Alec was beside her. “ That’s 
Roy Mercer on the Lycoming he cried. “ May I 
have the receivers a moment, please.” 

Alec slipped on the headpiece and sat down at his 
key. “WNA — WNA — WNA de 3ADH— 
3ADH — 3ADH,” he flashed. 

Almost at once came the response. “ 3ADH — 
3ADH— 3ADH de WNA— WNA— WNA— 
K.” 

“ Hello, Roy! ” ticked off Alec. “ This is Alec 
Cunningham. Just happened to hear you calling 
Cape May. Can’t imagine why they didn’t answer. 
How are you? ” 

“ Fine. How are you? What are you doing? ” 

“ All O. K. Counting oyster larvee with a mi- 
croscope just now. Tell you all about it some day. 
What are you sailing so early for? ” 

“ New schedule. Going to touch at some West 
Indian ports and Yucatan on way to Galveston. 
Due back here a month from to-day. That’s Au- 
gust twenty-two. Be sure to watch for me. May 
have something interesting to tell you. How are 


262 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

you getting on? Heard from any of the other 
fellows of the Camp Brady Wireless Patrol?” 

For some time the two old comrades talked as 
fast as they could flash their messages to each other. 
Then Alec laid down his receivers and turned to 
Elsa. “ It certainly is good to hear from Roy,’’ 
he said. “ He’s one of the fellows from the Camp 
Brady Wireless Patrol at home. He’s a prince, 
too. No end of pluck and brains. Why, he saved 
the Lycoming from a collision in a fog, just with 
his wireless. And he was washed overboard when 
he was helping to take a line to the disabled steamer 
Empress during a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, 
and was swept into Corpus Christi by the tidal 
wave. He got the news of the disaster there to the 
outside world by wireless that he made himself and 
so got help for the city. Oh! He’s a wonderful 
chap. How I wish you knew him. He’s true as 
steel. They don’t make any others quite so fine as 
Roy.” 

“ If he’s a friend of yours, Alec, I know he’s all 
right. You wouldn’t have any other kind of 
friends. But as for their not making any other 
boys as fine as Roy, humph! I guess I know some- 
body that’s true as steel myself.” 

“ I must hustle along with my job,” said Ale(v 
and he went back to his microscope. 

Finally, his bottles examined and cleaned and all 
his apparatus stowed away, Alec picked up the set- 
ting-pole. “ It’s time we were heading for Bi- 
valve,” he said. 


THE OSPEEY'S NEST 


263 


He backed the Osprey out from between the 
islets, turned her, and pushed his way back to the 
open water. Then, having a favoring wind, he 
hoisted his sail, and the Osprey went skimming 
over the waves on the homeward track. 


CHAPTER XXI 


THE GREAT SECRET 

S O eager was Alec to return to his investigations 
that he slipped back to the oyster-beds that 
very night, so as to be on hand at the earliest pos- 
sible moment next day. His mind was afire, his 
whole being was keyed up. He was like a hound 
on a hot scent. He felt that he had his quarry 
almost within his reach. He wanted to press on at 
top speed until he grasped the prize. Neither 
storm nor calm, neither tide nor sickness, could long 
have delayed him; for Alec possessed that unusual 
quality of mind which made him rise superior to 
obstacles, once his interest was thoroughly aroused. 
Things that to some boys would have appeared as 
effective obstacles became to Alec, when he was thus 
aroused, only difficulties to be overcome. One by 
one he had surmounted all the barriers that he had 
so far encountered. Each victory made him only 
the keener to win another. Of all his struggles, the 
effort to learn the truth about the oyster had inter- 
ested him most deeply, because he knew that exact 
knowledge along that line was the very corner-stone 
of his success, or, more accurately, of the success he 
was striving to build. 


264 


THE GEEAT SECEET 


265 


So daylight found Alec astir and already on his 
way to Captain Hardy’s oyster-bed. For the facts 
that Alec and Elsa had discovered concerning 
Hardy’s bed and the existence of the depression in 
the bottom of the Bay, had given Alec an idea that 
he could hardly wait to test out. He meant to find 
the entire truth about the little channel. He 
doubted if any one else had discovered the little 
trough or furrow in the bottom of the Bay, and if 
they had, he doubted whether its significance had 
occurred to the discoverers. 

Now he proceeded to the upper end of Hardy’s 
bed, and, dropping his lead, found exactly where 
the edge of the furrow lay. He noted its position 
with relation to the corner stakes of the grounds. 
Then he proceeded slowly down-stream, sounding 
as he went, to try to locate the inner edge of the 
ditch. For several hundred feet he felt his way 
along. Then he took a heavy weight, tied to it a 
line of the proper length, and to that he fastened a 
stick a few feet long, to the upper end of which he 
tied a white cloth. He lowered the weight to the 
bottom, dropping it, as nearly as he was able, on 
the very edge of the furrow or ditch in the mud. 
Then he adjusted his line so that the stick floated 
perpendicularly, holding the white cloth aloft, a 
foot or two above the surface of the water. Then 
he dropped the Osprey down-stream some hundreds 
of feet, and once more locating the edge of the de- 
pression in the bottom, made and anchored a second 
floating marker. Examination showed him that 


266 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

the three points he had located — the one near 
Hardy’s stakes and the two he had marked with 
flags, — were practically in a straight line. Once 
more he headed the Osprey down-stream, proceed- 
ing as far as he could go and still see his markers. 
Then he sounded, and found that he was still over 
the very edge of the depression. Apparently this 
depression ran in an almost perfectly straight line. 
Alec put down another flag. He now had marked 
the depression for a good many hundred yards. 

Now he went back to his starting-point and be- 
gan to study the current and the appearance of the 
water. The depression extended in exactly the 
same direction that the tide followed, so that the 
water would sweep straight through it, back and 
forth, back and forth ceaselessly, scouring it clean. 
Alec recalled what Roy had written him about the 
jetties at Galveston, and how the tide, sweeping in 
and out between them, had deepened the channel. 
To be sure, there were no jetties here to conflne the 
flow of the tide to the depression, yet Alec felt sure 
that the current would keep the depression clean 
and perhaps even deepen it. For all time, at least 
for all calculable time, so far as he could see, the 
depression would remain in the bottom and create a 
vast slick along its side. In this slick he believed 
the oyster fry would be most numerous. 

Slowly Alec proceeded along the edge of the 
slick, passing one after another the markers he had 
set up, and lifting them as he came to them. The 
edge of the slick, of course, followed the line of the 


THE GREAT SECRET 


267 


depression in the bottom. Alec knew it ought to 
do so, and the white flags proved that it did. On 
and on went Alec, studying the current, watching 
every wave and swirl in the tide. At the same time, 
he kept before him the map of the oyster-beds, 
marking down on the map as accurately as possible 
the edge of the slick. How far to the side this slick 
extended Alec did not know. He could determine 
that later. What he did know — at least he felt 
sure he knew it — was that every oyster-bed lying in 
this slick was a prime oyster ground. He would 
know for sure when he had made larvae tests of 
water from the different beds. 

For two or three miles Alec proceeded. The 
slick was still plainly discernible, and whenever 
Alec took soundings he found that the depression 
continued. At last he came to the point for which 
he was heading — the last lot of ground that had 
been staked. Beyond that was a vast area that any 
man might claim. So eager to see what he should 
find, so fearful and yet so hopeful was Alec, that 
he almost held his breath as he bent forward and 
peered out over the unstaked water. Would the 
slick continue through the unleased areas or would 
it not? 

“It does! It does!” cried Alec aloud, as he 
sailed past the very last oyster stake. As far as he 
could see, the water before him was sharply divided 
into two areas — one that rippled roughly as the tide 
swept onward, the other as smooth as though it had 
been rubbed with grease. 


268 


THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 


Into this smooth stretch of water Alec turned the 
Osprey, Then, his hands atremble with eagerness, 
he brought forth his testing apparatus and began to 
strain water from the bottom through his filter net. 
Here, there, over yonder, Alec pumped up water, 
until he had samples from a large acreage. His 
settling bottles were numbered, and on his chart he 
marked the location from which each sample came. 
At the same time he took soundings and tested the 
water for density and temperature. All these 
things he likewise set down on his chart. So eager 
was he to begin his count, that he could scarcely 
wait to stow away his instruments when he had done 
straining water. But when he started to use his 
microscope, he found that the wind had freshened 
so much he could not work well. It was blowing 
directly against the current, throwing up sizable 
rollers, and the Osprey was too unsteady for the try- 
ing work in hand. There was nothing to do but get 
to smooth water, and that meant to leave the Bay, 
for now whitecaps were breaking everywhere. 

At first Alec hardly knew where to go. He 
thought of running into the mouth of the river. 
But that idea did not please him because passing 
boatmen might annoy him or at least interrupt him. 
And anyway, Alec preferred to carry on his investi- 
gations without others knowing about them. He 
had learned pretty well the fact that not everybody 
was to be trusted. Alec also thought of going to 
the point of land where he and Elsa had eaten their 
dinner. That did not seem altogether suitable, 


THE GEEAT SECEET 


269 


either. Finally he decided to head for the Osprey's 
Nest. If no one was in sight when he got there, he 
would go in. If any one were by to watch him, he 
would pull into some neighboring inlet. As fast 
as his engine would take him, Alec drove through 
the waves. When he reached the shore just off the 
Osprey's Nest, not a boat of any sort was in sight. 
He shut oflf his power, pushed his little craft up the 
secret channel, and soon lay at anchor in his snug 
retreat. The shade was grateful and the Osprey 
was as steady as a rock. He could work in comfort 
and in perfect security. 

Hour after hour Alec stuck to his job. At times 
his eyes ached so from the strain that he had to leave 
his microscope and bathe them in the salt sea water 
that he dipped up with a bucket. At noon he 
paused long enough to cook himself a warm meal 
and flash a greeting to Elsa. Then he went on 
with his work. As long as he could hold himself to 
his task he continued to count. Bottle after bottle 
he emptied, picking out one by one with his little 
needle thousands upon thousands of oyster larvse. 
Again and again, as the day wore on, he laid down 
his implements, meaning to quit. And as often he 
picked them up after an interval, to do just a little 
bit more. There were limits to his endurance. His 
eyes would function only so long. But his soul was 
indomitable. So he kept on and on and on, until 
dusk found him with his task completed. When he 
talked to Elsa that night he was able to tell her that 
he had found the great secret. At least he believed 


270 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

he had. He had discovered an unstaked area that 
he believed to be as good a place for oysters as any 
gi’ound in the Bay. 

Long after he turned away from his wireless, 
Alec sat on the deck of the Osprey. By every rule 
of the game he should have been asleep in his bunk. 
Physically he was worn out by the strain of his in- 
tense concentration. But mentally he was afire. 
The task that had tired his body had stimulated his 
brain to unusual activity. His vision was almost 
prophetic. He pictured the future as he wished it 
to be. And though his mental image was not an 
exact representation of life as it proved to be, it was 
a marvelous approximation. Nor was that strange. 
For Alec was learning that the more sharply he de- 
fined his ambitions, and the more exactly he pic- 
tured his path, the more likely he was to see his 
dreams become realities. He needed a map for his 
life, just as truly as he needed a chart for his oyster- 
beds. 

Now, as he sat, silent, in the Osprey, his mind 
aglow with rosy pictures, the difficulties that once 
had seemed so insurmountable shrank and shrank 
until they appeared but mole-hills. Though he did 
not put it in so many words, Alec was coming to 
realize that a big accomplishment is only a great 
dream backed by prodigious labor. Labor is the 
thing it is made of, but without the inspiration of 
the dream the labor is impossible. So he let him- 
self dream on and on in the darkness, resting on 
some soft cushions, listening to the gentle sigh of 


THE GEEAT SECEET 


271 


the wind as it stirred the leaves above his head, 
dimly conscious of the stirrings of birds, the faint 
splashings of muskrats in the marsh above him, the 
quavering call of a distant owl. Overhead the stars 
twinkled. Light patches of cloud floated in the 
sky. The waters of the Bay washed the shores 
gently but audibly. The world was in repose. 
And at last Alec slept with it. 


CHAPTER XXII 


THE NEW CAPTAIN OF THE BERTHA B 

D ay after day Alec toiled at his self-appointed 
task. Under the broiling sun and when cold 
rains were falling, with the wind whistling through 
the Osprey's rigging and in periods of calm, he was 
daily to be seen on the oyster grounds in his little 
boat. For whole days at a time he did nothing but 
take soundings and record the results. Other days 
he spent studying the currents, watching the tides, 
searching the face of the water diligently. At 
other times he gathered water samples here, there, 
yonder, everywhere, and followed that task by the 
more trying labor at the microscope. With every 
sample of water he analyzed, and every survey he 
made of the currents, he became more and more cer- 
tain that he had found the thing for which he was 
searching. He knew exactly where he would put 
his oyster-beds. He would lease as much land 
along the edge of the depression in the bottom and 
immediately adjoining the land already staked as 
he could handle. By taking a long and narrow 
strip, he would be certain to have his grounds in the 
very heart of the slick. 

No sooner had Alec made up his mind than he 
laid the matter before Captain Rumford. “ I want 
272 


THE NEW CAPTAIN OF THE BERTHA B 273 

to lease one hundred acres right here/’ he said, 
pointing to a spot he had marked on his chart of the 
oyster-beds. 

The shipper frowned. “ What do you want of 
oyster-beds now? ” he demanded. “ You have no 
way to work them, and the tax on them will eat up 
your savings. You’ll have to pay $75 a year rental, 
besides the cost of surveying and staking your bed. 
The sum you’ll pay out, just to hold that ground 
while you’re earning your equipment, would go a 
long way toward paying for your boat. Besides, I 
don’t like grounds so far out. The water’s too 
deep. Oysters ought to be planted in shallow 
water.” 

“ But you have some beds in deep water yourself, 
Captain,” urged Alec. 

“ None of them is much good.” 

‘‘ Perhaps they aren’t out far enough.” 

“ Nonsense. Shallow water’s the only good place 
for an oyster-bed. There’s lots of beds out in deep 
water, but that’s because all the grounds near shore 
had already been staked out and their owners had 
to take deep-water grounds or none at all. But it’s 
no place for oysters.” 

“ There’s Hardy’s bed,” urged Alec. “ That’s 
as far out as any of them and it’s a good bed. With 
proper care it would be one of the best. I’ve been 
examining the water there, and it’s full of spat.” 

“ Nonsense, all nonsense,” said the shipper impa- 
tiently. “ Elsa has been pumping me full of rub- 
bish about what you are doing. As though you 


274 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 


could tell anything about an oyster ground by look- 
ing at a few drops of water through a microscope. 
This foolishness is the only thing I ever saw in you 
that I don’t like. If only you’d drop it and go to 
work on my boats as I want you to, you’d get on 
fast. As for your leasing one hundred acres of 
oyster-land, and away out there at that, why, it’s 
not to be thought of. It’s ridiculous.” 

Alec looked very sober. From the quarter where 
he had expected help, came sudden opposition. It 
almost made him hesitate. “ Captain Rumford,” 
he said, “ I’m mighty sorry we don’t see things 
alike. I know it seems foolish for a lad of my 
years to be telling an old oyster captain like your- 
self anything about oystering. But I have to live up 
to my lights just as much as you have to live up to 
yours. I believe I’m right. When I’m done with 
this work I’ll know whether I’m right or wrong. 
If I’m right, then I’ve found one of the best loca- 
tions in the entire oyster region to start a new bed. 
I know it will cost me a lot to carry that bed. But 
I’m so sure I’m right that I’m willing to risk the 
money. I’m willing to bet on myself, if you want 
to put it that way. That matter is settled. The 
question is. Will you help me get the land I want, 
or must I ask somebody else to help me? ” 

“ Well, I admire your pluck, anyway, youngster. 
If your judgment was half as good, you’d be a win- 
ner sure. Since you’re so dead set on having those 
grounds. I’ll have to help you get them, of course. 
You’re not of age, are you? ” 


THE NEW CAPTAIN OF THE BERTHA B 275 

No, sir. I was nineteen soon after I came to 
Bivalve. It won’t be so long now until I am 
twenty.” 

“ You have no guardian? ” 

“ No. But I’ve been told I need one.” Alec 
grinned. “ Elsa says so.” 

“ Well, she’s right for once. I’ll have to lease 
these lands in my own name and then transfer them 
to you later.” 

“ That will be all right.” 

“ Eh? You trust the old man, do you? Haven’t 
you learned that you can’t trust everybody? 
You’ve had experiences enough here to teach you 
that lesson pretty well. Suppose your bed should 
turn out to be worth something, and I decided not 
to hand it over to you? Had you thought of that 
possibility, lad? ” 

“ Captain Rumford,” said Alec, “ there isn’t 
anything I’ve learned better than the lesson that 
there are some people I can’t trust. And while 
I’ve been learning that, I’ve found that there are 
some I can.” 

“ Thank you, lad,” said the shipper, evidently 
deeply touched. “ Thank you. You can put your 
mind at rest about your oyster gi’ounds. I’ll get 
them and I’ll give you a paper showing that I only 
hold them in trust for you. And I’ll do more. If 
you don’t have the money to pay the expenses. I’ll 
lend it to you and you can pay me whenever you 
can. But that’s because I have confidence in you 
and not in your oyster grounds.” 


276 THE YOUNG WIEELE8S OPEEATOE 

“ Thank you, Captain,’’ said Alec. “ It won’t 
be necessary. I have the money.” 

The captain turned away and went to his desk to 
make out his application for the desired grounds. 
But all the way to his chair he kept muttering, 
“ The little fool. He’s just throwing his money 
away.” 

Having decided the question of his own grounds, 
Alec turned his attention to the shipper’s beds. He 
spent several days sounding them and studying the 
water above them. Mostly the captain’s beds were 
well in shore. These he had inherited from his fa- 
ther, who had begun oystering before the shipper 
was born. These beds were usually very produc- 
tive. In deep water the captain also owned consid- 
erable holdings that he had acquired with profits 
derived from the beds he had inherited. But none 
of these had ever proved to be very productive. 
There was never any very great set of spat in them, 
and unless they were planted with seed-oysters it 
hardly paid to dredge them. But, of course, the 
captain always put seed in all his beds and so he 
had steadilj^ made some money from them. When 
Alec analyzed the larval content of the shipper’s 
various beds under the microscope, he found that 
the shallow water was very rich in spat. The con- 
tour of the shore made a vast eddy where these beds 
lay. The beds farther out were located in the 
strong current, with not the slightest suspicion of a 
slick or an eddy near them. 

When Alec had concluded his examination of the 


THE NEW CAPTAIN OF THE BBBTHA B 277 

shipper’s beds, he went directly to their owner, 
though he made a wry face as he thought of what 
was probably before him. 

“ Captain Rumford,” he said, “ I’ve been work- 
ing out in your beds for several days. Your shal- 
low water beds are very fine grounds, but ” 

“ Of course they are. Of course they are. Shal- 
low water’s the only proper place for an oyster- 
bed.” 

“ Your other beds, I was going to say,” went on 
Alec, “ are not nearly so good.” 

“ Of course not. Of course not. What are you 
telling me all this for? Think I don’t know it? ” 

“ I don’t believe you’ll ever get a big set of spat 
in those outside beds,” went on Alec. “ I don’t 
believe you’d get enough of a set to pay for shelling 
the grounds.” 

“ Well, well,” said the shipper rather testily, “ is 
this supposed to be news to me? ” 

“ I was going to say,” went on Alec, choking 
down a feeling of resentment, “ that if you would 
sell those beds and buy Hardy’s bed, you’d make a 
profitable deal. I’d be willing to wager that you’d 
get as many oysters from spat in Hardy’s bed as 
you would from the seed you planted. You’d get 
a tremendous catch every year.” 

“ Fiddlesticks ! I never heard of such a thing in 
a deep-water bed.” 

“ But, Captain Rumford,” protested Alec, 
“ don’t the other oystermen who own beds near 
Hardy’s get good hauls? ” 


278 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

“ I can’t deny some of them do,” admitted the 
shipper, “ but I can’t understand it. That’s no 
place for an oyster-bed, way out in that deep water. 
They can’t expect to have luck always, though.” 

Alec gave up. It was no use to try to overcome 
the shipper’s prejudices. 

Day after day he continued his labors. He was 
so constantly on the water that those who saw him 
became curious to know what he could be doing. 
Now this oysterman, and now that, as Alec ran 
across him, tried to learn what Alec was doing out 
on the Bay so much. Occasionally boats sailed 
near him simply to watch him. At such times Alec 
pretended to be fishing. Rather he did fish. So 
he caught many a toothsome meal. He also made 
a large net of mosquito-netting, which he used for 
catching crabs. Of course, all this curiosity was 
aroused, not about Alec himself, for nobody cared 
much about a homeless lad, but because Alec was 
supposed to be doing something for Captain Rum- 
ford. If the leading oyster shipper at Bivalve 
found it worth while to keep a man out among the 
oyster-beds week in and week out, the curious fig- 
ured it might be worth their own while to do a little 
examining themselves. The difficulty was that no- 
body knew exactly what Alec was doing. So it 
came about that Alec did exactly what he did not 
want to do. He called attention to his own efforts. 
But his work was well along toward completion be- 
fore it was generally known that he was doing any- 
thing out of the ordinary. What annoyed Alec 


THE NEW CAPTAIN OF THE BEBTEA B 279 

most of all about the matter was his fear lest some 
one track him to the Osprey's Nest and so discover 
the secret hiding-place. Frequently, when other 
boats were near at hand toward dusk, Alec came up 
to the oyster wharf and tied up in the slip at Cap- 
tain Rumford’s pier. He knew that even the most 
reckless would hesitate to touch him there, under 
the glare of the pier-shed light and with the watch- 
man within call. So, whether any of Hardy’s 
friends ever wished to harm him or not, Alec came 
through the summer unscathed, and his hiding- 
place remained undiscovered. 

One day, when August was more than half gone, 
Elsa called him on the wireless and announced that 
repairs on Captain Flint’s boat, the Rebecca, were 
completed and the paint dry, and that the Rum- 
fords were going to take their annual family cruise 
aboard of hei\ Alec was invited to go along and 
no answer but a favorable one would be accepted. 
Of course, there was nothing for Alec to do but put 
his work aside and say he would go. In his heart 
he was more than glad to put his work aside. Week 
after week he had stuck to it, holding himself with 
iron determination to his task. But now the zest 
was gone out of it. The long grind was wearing 
on his nerves. Joyously he looked forward to this 
holiday. 

The next morning he did not put out in his boat, 
but went to the shipper’s office to thank him for 
the invitation and to see if he could be of assistance 
in preparing for the cruise. But the instant Alec 


280 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

saw the shipper, he knew that something had gone 
wrong. 

“ Bagley’s left us,’' blurted out the shipper, the 
moment he saw Alec. And there were tears in his 
voice, if not in his eyes. 

“ What do you mean, sir? ” asked Alec. 

“ He’s going to the Chesapeake next fall. Got 
a chance to go into partnership with a shipper there. 
Don’t blame him a bit, but Gad ! I hate to lose him. 
He’s been with me seventeen years. Never worked 
anywhere but on the Bertha B. Started oystering 
on her as a deck-hand. Don’t know what I’ll do 
for another captain.” 

“ You can get plenty of them,” said Alec. 

“ Certainly,” said the shipper, “ but not plenty of 
Bagleys. Why, I could trust that man with my 
life.” 

‘‘ Take Hawley,” said Alec. 

“ What! ” cried the shipper. “ Make a captain 
out of a fellow that was fired from the Bertha B 
less than a year ago for being drunk? You’re 
crazy.” 

‘‘ You’re foolish if you don’t take him,” urged 
Alec. “ Why, Captain Rumford, that man’s the 
very soul of honesty. I know him like a book. I’d 
trust him just as far as I would you. Captain, and 
that’s saying all I know how to say. It’s old John 
Barleycorn you have in mind. But Jim cut his 
acquaintance long ago. And you know as well as 
I do that there isn’t a better sailor in the fleet.” 

The shipper was silent a long time. “ Hanged 


THE NEW CAPTAIN OP THE BERTHA B 281 

if I don’t try it,” he said at last. ‘‘ I always liked 
Jim when he was sober. I’ll take him along on 
this party and see how he can handle a boat. Now 
don’t you give him any hint of what’s coming.” 

“ I’m mighty glad you’re going to take him,” 
cried Alec. “ I haven’t a better friend in the world 
than Jim. By the way, when are we going to start 
on our little party? ” 

“ Just as soon as we can get ready. It will likely 
take most of the day to get the boat provisioned and 
get the stuff aboard that they want to bring from 
home. We ought to be off in the morning.” 

“ Then I’ll call up Elsa and see what I can do 
to help.” And Alec bustled away, joyful in the 
thought of the little outing ahead of him. Could 
he have known exactly what was to happen to the 
little pleasure party, his face would have worn a 
very different aspect indeed. 


CHAPTER XXIII 


ADRIFT IN THE STORM 


LEG could not see into the future, this time at 



jTjL least, and he went about the work of prepar- 
ing the Rebecca with a merry heart. The ship 
looked very fine, indeed, as she lay at the captain’s 
wharf, all spick and span, and proudly displaying 
her new coat of paint. She was considerably larger 
than the Bertha B, Her masts were stepped at a 
rakish angle. Her rigging was neat. Her lines 
were good. For a boat of her size she carried an 
unusual amount of sail. Her hold had been emp- 
tied of all movable tackle and her decks cleared be- 
fore she had been hauled out for repairs. Nothing 
had yet been replaced. And in order that the party 
might have all the room possible, nothing was to be 
replaced until after the cruise. Even the anchor 
and the chains had been removed. Inside, the cabin 
was perfectly bare. But the woodwork had all been 
freshly painted or varnished, and the Rebecca 
needed only a few furnishings to make her very at- 
tractive, indeed. 

While the shipper and Alec were making a hasty 
examination of the boat, a truck load of furnishings 
arrived from the shipper’s home, and the two at 
once started to carry the things aboard. There 


282 


ADEIFT IN THE STOEM 


283 


were cushions, and bedding, and chairs, and rugs, 
and blankets, and wraps, and a host of other things 
to make the boat comfortable. And there were 
great ticks to be filled with straw for the men to 
sleep on in the hold, while Elsa and her mother 
occupied the cabin. 

When all the things were aboard and the truck 
had gone away. Captain Rumford turned his atten- 
tion to the ship’s gear. He was too careful a sailor 
not to make sure that everything was right before 
he set sail. He found everything in good condition. 
Only the anchor and the anchor chain were missing. 
The chains had been laid away when the Rebecca 
was hauled out. It was neither easy nor convenient 
to get them now. The captain studied the matter 
for a moment. “ About all we’ll need an anchor 
for,” he muttered to himself, “ is to keep us from 
drifting at night. I’ll just take along that little 
light anchor in the storeroom. We can bend an old 
cable on it and it will answer our purpose. If a 
storm should come up, we’ll run into a harbor. 
Now I’ll go see about that little anchor.” 

The captain grabbed an oyster truck and hur- 
ried to his storeroom to get it. A moment later 
he returned, trundling the anchor and an old haw- 
ser before him. Alec helped lift them aboard. 
Then, while the captain was bending on the haw- 
ser, Alec busied himself in the cabin, putting the 
things there in some sort of order. 

Presently came a load of provisions. Alec car- 
ried to the storeroom bag after bag. It seemed 


284 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

to him he had brought enough stuff aboard to feed 
a ship’s crew for a year. The provisions he stowed 
away in the cupboards in the cabin. When Alec 
was done, the captain joined him and inspected the 
cupboards. 

“ Looks to me as though we’re ready to cast off 
the minute we get our crew aboard,” he said. “ She 
seems fit to contend with almost anything — espe- 
cially hunger.” 

“ I can’t think of another thing we could wish 
for,” said Alec. 

“ Unless it was some music,” said the captain 
wistfully. “ It never seemed right to me to go on 
a party like this without some music. I’d have 
given a lot if Elsa had learned to play the piano, 
but she just wouldn’t. Hasn’t a particle of love for 
music. Funny, isn’t it, when I like it so much. 
She likes to dance, too. You’d think she’d have 
some liking for music, wouldn’t you? ” 

Alec made no response. But when the shipper 
drove away in his car, Alec ran to the Osprey and 
quickly uncoupled his wireless outfit. “ It won’t 
be much,” he said, “ but it’s all I can do for the 
captain. He can have music at night now, any- 
way. I’ll try to surprise him.” 

He fastened his instruments in the cabin of the 
Rebecca, very much as he had had them in the 
Bertha B, With two sticks he made an aerial which 
he placed flat on the roof of the cabin. The sticks 
were fastened together like a Maltese cross, and 
ground their ends Alec wrapped strand after strand 


ADEIFT IN THE STOEM 


285 


of wire, bringing the end into the cabin through the 
tiny window just above his instruments. He made 
a ground by twisting his wire to a little length of 
chain, which he fastened over the side so that its 
end hung in the water. Then he tested his instru- 
ments and found they were in order. As far as 
Alec could see, everything was now in readiness 
for the cruise. 

Doubly delightful to Alec was the little trip that 
began next morning because of the weeks of hard 
labor that had preceded it. Just as his work had 
palled on him because he had been unable to com- 
bine any amusement with it, so amusements pall 
when they are not interspersed with toil. Now 
Alec’s appetite for pleasure was more than whetted. 
He was ravenous for enjoyment. And being so, he 
enjoyed everything. The sun that shone so bright 
seemed merry rather than hot to Alec. The winds 
that circled about the mastheads seemed to Alec as 
playful as squirrels frisking in a tree top. The 
waves seemed to laugh in glee as the wind drove 
them before it, showing their white teeth in gleam- 
ing smiles as they flashed in the sun. White teeth 
they were, too, that could rend as well as gleam in 
the sun. Well enough Alec knew that fact. Be- 
fore many days he was to know it better still. But 
now he had no thought of care. He had put work 
aside. He was like a small boy on a lark. Usually 
rather staid and sober, now he kept the party laugh- 
ing at his antics. And they were ready enough to 
laugh with him. For this was a real pleasure party. 


286 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

For the time being, care had been thrown to the 
winds. 

But if the mere joy of being alive and free and 
with friends could make Alec happy, the fact that 
he was seeing new things and learning new things 
gave him added enjoyment. For never, for a single 
instant, did Alec forget to pick up bits of knowl- 
edge that came his way. For well nigh a year, now, 
he had lived on the waves. He had sailed the.Dela- 
ware in sunshine and in storm, when the weather 
was blazing hot and when ice formed on the deck. 
And yet his knowledge of this great body of water 
was limited wholly to what he had seen in the nar- 
row compass of the oyster-beds, or to what he had 
read. Now he was to see with his own eyes the 
wonders of the deep. For as yet Alec had hardly 
been out of sight of land, and he had never seen the 
ocean. 

Alec would not have been himself had he not re- 
membered to bring along a map. And it was the 
largest map of the Bay he could lay his hands on. 
He saw at a glance that in contour the Bay was 
roughly pear-shaped. On either shore little ex- 
crescences, like the warts and blemishes that come 
on real pears, stuck out here and there, to mar the 
perfect pear-shaped outline of the Bay. The larg- 
est of these was Egg Island Point, off which lay 
the light he knew so well. Miles farther up the 
coast the Rebecca passed Ben Davis Point. And 
still farther along stretched a wide cove, with the 
Cohansey River pouring into it, and a little, squat 


ADEIFT IN THE STOEM 


287 


lighthouse standing on a point, to guide the mariner 
into the stream. 

Other points of interest the party visited, too — 
little summer resorts, like Fortescue, and light- 
houses, where they were welcomed in a way that left 
no doubt of their hosts’ sincerity; for callers are 
few at a lighthouse, and usually they are welcomed 
accordingly. 

In the evenings, the party ran slowly before the 
gentle night wind, or, anchoring far offshore to 
avoid mosquitoes, gave themselves up to friendly 
talk and laughter — all save the captain. For him 
there was but one nocturnal diversion ; that was lis- 
tening to the music with Alec’s wireless. 

Sometimes the men went ashore and searched in 
the salt holes in the marsh for crabs. Or all hands 
fished for them from the deck of the Rebecca , low- 
ering great chunks of white meat on strings, well 
weighted, and gently raising their catch to the sur- 
face when they felt a nibbling at the bait. Then 
came the fun of scooping the crabs with long-han- 
dled dip-nets. Astonishingly often they failed to 
net them,, too, for the wary creatures, despite their 
seeming awkwardness, vanished the instant they 
came to the surface. Great, gray-green things they 
were, with savage-looking pincers that could crush 
a finger severely if they got hold of one. And al- 
though he had previously caught crabs, Alec could 
hardly accustom himself to their color, so long had 
he known only the cooked crab of inland restau- 
rants, which had turned red in boiling. 


288 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOR 


Sometimes they fished for weakfish, using pieces 
of crab meat for bait. Beautiful, big fish they 
caught, too. And sometimes they got sea-bass and 
flounders. And as often as not, they pulled in the 
troublesome toadfish, which Alec came to detest as 
much as the sailors on the oyster-boats did. 

Day followed day in unbroken pleasure. Now 
they were here, now there. When Alec told the 
shipper that he had never seen the ocean, the 
shipper said he would head for the sea at once. 
Alec could have a good look at it, and then the 
party must head for home. Playtime was about 
ended. 

But it was one thing to say they would go to the 
sea and another thing to get there. The flood-tide 
held them back. The wind was hardly more than 
stirring. So fierce was the sun, so intense the heat 
on deck, that both Elsa and her mother retreated 
to the cabin. The captain sought what coolness he 
could find in the uncertain shade of a sail. Big 
Jim Hawley stood at the wheel, silent, imperturb- 
able. Alec flung himself on the deck near him. 
From time to time Hawley studied the sky. Great 
cumulus clouds were forming near the horizon. 

“ We’ll have a storm to-night,” he said to Alec. 

‘‘ The sooner the better,” said Alec. “ Anything 
to break this heat wave.” 

They rolled slowly on. The water gently heaved 
and the Rebecca swayed with it. There was barely 
wind enough to keep the sails from flapping. 

‘‘ We’ll never reach the Capes in daylight at this 


ADEIFT IK THE STOEM 


289 


rate,” said Hawley. “ The days are getting much 
shorter.” 

“ That’s so,” said Alec. “ Yesterday was the 
twenty-first of August. It’s just two months since 
the longest day and the days are shortening fast.” 

Slowly the Rebecca forged ahead. Even the cool 
breath of the water could scarcely make the sun’s 
heat endurable. Under the fierce rays the smell 
of paint became almost overpowering. The tar on 
ropes and rigging almost melted and ran. The 
fleecy clouds along the horizon bulked larger and 
larger. Slowly they rose toward the zenith. Late 
afternoon came. The ship was still far from the 
Capes. Captain Rumford studied the clouds care- 
fully. 

“ We’ll pull in behind the breakwater when we 
get there, Jim,” he said quietly. “ I think that 
storm will be a rip snorter. We might as well be 
on the safe side.” 

They went on. Gradually the sun’s rays gi’ew 
feebler. Gusts of vapor were hurtling across the 
sky, curtaining the fiery beams. The sky turned a 
peculiar greenish-copper color. The thunder-heads 
mounted ever higher. Then the sun was shut from 
sight. It grew dusk. Darkness came, as sudden 
as the dropping of a curtain. Afar off, flashes of 
lightning rent the clouds. Thunder rumbled 
ominously in the distance. The wind died away. 
It grew calm as midnight. The Rebecca rolled 
idly, her sheets flaj^ping. The men got into their 
oilskins. 


290 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 


“ Better shorten sail,” said the shipi^er. 

They ran to the halyards. Down came the great 
canvases. Nimbly they fastened the reef -points 
and made all as snug as possible. 

“ Now let her blow,” said the shipper. “ The 
more wind, the faster we go. We’ll reach the 
breakwater and heave to. I kind of wish we had a 
heavier anchor, though.” 

None too soon had the Rebecca shortened sail. 
Afar off an ominous rushing sound was heard. 
The wind began to come in short puffs. Flash 
after flash of lightning illumined the angiy clouds. 
The roaring sound grew louder. It came on with 
the speed of an express-train. Over the waves 
swept a sheet of falling rain like a very wall of 
water. Alec closed the companionway and jammed 
on the hatch covers. In another moment the storm 
was upon them. 

Over the waves the falling rain came hissing like 
steam. It fell in a torrent. In a second the deck 
of the Rebecca was running with water. The sails 
tightened and bellied as the wind came smack! 
against them. The Rebecca trembled all over, then 
bent to the blast and began to run through the 
water like a wild thing. Big Hawley stood at his 
wheel, as steady as a new mast. He handled the 
ship as though she were a toy. 

“ Some thunder-storm,” he smiled at Alec. 
“ It’ll blow itself out in a little while. Nothing to 
worry about. It’ll get us to the breakwater in jig 
time.” 


ADEIFT IN THE STOEM 


291 


It did, too. Long before Alec had any idea 
where they were, Jim brought the Rebecca up into 
the wind, and with her sails close-hauled, drove her 
shoreward. The rain still fell heavily, but Alec 
could dimly make out the curving shore-line and 
across it, like the string to a bow, stretehed a black 
streak that Alec knew must be the breakwater. 
The waves were dashing on it madly. But the wind 
now blew almost parallel with the long stone pile. 
The breakwater gave them no protection. Rather 
it was a menaee. If the ship should drag her an- 
chor and drift on it, her hull would be battered to 
pieces in no time. Surely this was no plaee to 
heave to in sueh a storm. 

“ We’ll just beat up along the coast, Jim,” said 
the shipper. ‘‘ It’s a windward shore. The storm 
will blow itself out pretty soon.” 

The big sailor threw his weight against the wheel. 
The ship heeled over in the wind. Something 
craeked like a rifle-shot. The wheel flew around, 
almost dropping Hawley to the deck. The rudder 
had broken. 

“Overboard with the anehor!” called the 
shipper. 

Hawley and Alec ran forward to execute the 
order. There was a splash and the anehor rope 
paid out fast. Hawley gave the ship sufficient line 
and went aft again to examine the steering-gear. 

“ Can’t do anything with it,” said the shipper. 
“ The rudder itself is broken. We’ll have to ride 
the storm out here, then get help.” 


292 


THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 


He went forward and examined the anchor line. 
Then he looked long and steadily at the breakwater, 
which was all too close to please him. 

“ She’s holding all right,” he said. “ We might 
as well eat while we wait for the storm to end.” 

They entered the cabin and stripped off their oil- 
skins. “ Any danger? ” asked Mrs. Rumford, with 
anxious eyes. 

“ We’re perfectly safe as long as our anchor 
doesn’t drag. It’s a little light, that’s all. But it’s 
holding well. I don’t think there is any probability 
of harm.” 

Elsa and her mother got supper. From time to 
time the captain peered out of the cabin window. 
All seemed well. They sat down to eat. It was not 
a merry meal, as some of their meals had been, but 
the storm had not dulled their appetites and they 
ate with enjoyment. Elsa and Alec even joked a 
little. Hawley was silent from habit. Mrs. Rum- 
ford was a little apprehensive. The captain was 
too busy with his own thoughts to talk. 

Suddenly the big sailor jumped to his feet. 
“ Feels as though we are movin’, Cap’n,” he said. 
He pulled on his oilskins and stepped out in the 
rain. In a moment he came tearing back. “We’re 
adrift,” he bellowed down the companionway. 
“ The anchor line has parted.” 

Neither the shipper nor Alec waited to don oil- 
skins, but rushed out ofi deck at once. There could 
be no doubt about the situation. The Rebecca had 
swung around broadside to the wind and was wal- 


ADEIFT IN THE STOEM 


293 


lowing in the waves. The anchor line dangled 
loosely at her bow. The situation was critical. 
The breakwater was not far away, though fortu- 
nately the wind did not now blow toward it. 
Plainly they were drifting abreast of it, gathering 
speed with every minute. And both wind and tide 
were driving them toward the open sea. 

“ If only we had put those dredges aboard,” said 
the shipper, “ we might hold ourselves yet. There 
isn’t a thing on board we can put down to hold 
with. If only we don’t go on that stone pile, we’ll 
be all right. This storm can’t last long, and some- 
body will pick us up, sure.” 

Driven by the wind, the tide was running like a 
mill-race, and the Rebecca was swept along at an 
unbelievable pace. 

The shipper and Alec stepped into the cabin and 
pulled on their oilskins, then returned to the deck. 

“We don’t have even a boat-hook or a setting- 
pole,” sighed the shipper. “ I suppose they 
wouldn’t be much use anyway, but a fellow could 
at least try to fend the ship off those rocks.” 

Fearful, he looked toward the breakwater. Lit- 
tle by little the Rebecca was drawing closer to it. 
At the same time she was rapidly driving past the 
great stone pile. Would she clear it or not? There 
was nothing to do but stand and wait. And the 
three sailors almost held their breath as they 
steadied themselves by the rigging and watched. 
Nearer the boat came to the rocks and nearer, and 
the end of the breakwater was still rods away. 


294 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 

“ She’s going to strike,” said the shipper. 
“ She’ll crash in another minute. We’ll have to 
lower the life-boat.” 

They ran aft toward the davits, then paused a 
single second to watch. A great wave was lift- 
ing the Rebecca, Up she rose high on the crest, 
and swept straight toward the breakwater. 

“ Get the women on deck quick,” roared the 
shipper. “ She’s going to crash.” 

Alec sprang for the companionway. The ship 
gave a lurch, but there was no noise, no jar. An 
enormous wave, rushing against the breakwater, 
had rebounded and swept the ship clear. The tide 
hurled her forward. A moment later, by the nar- 
rowest of margins, the vessel skimmed across the 
end of the breakwater, and shot into the open water 
beyond. For the moment she was safe. 

Straight toward the open sea she went, fast as 
wind and tide could drive her. The storm still con- 
tinued. The rain had slackened, though it still fell. 
The wind yet blew with violence. With every mo- 
ment and with every foot they drew offshore the 
waves ran higher. Now driving straight ahead, 
now swinging in the wind, now wallowing in the 
waves, and at times smashing stern first into the 
rolling sea, the Rebecca drove on before the storm. 

“ Make a flare,” said the shipper grimly. 
“ We’ve got to get help.” 

The big sailor set about executing his order, but 
Alec darted into the cabin. Swiftly he threw over 
his switch. Then, steadying his hand, he flashed 


ADRIFT IN THE STORM 


296 


the call, “ SOS — SOS — SOS.” Then he paused 
and listened. 

Almost immediately came a reply. “ I have your 
signal of distress. Who and where are you? ” 

“ Schooner Rebecca/^ flashed back Alec. 
“ Drifting out to sea between the Delaware Capes, 
just off Henlopen. Rudder broken, anchor lost. 
Who and where are you? ” 

“ Steamer Lycoming. About thirty miles south 
of the Delaware Capes. Should reach you in less 
than two hours. Keep a flare burning.” 

Alec leaped from his instrument as though he 
were shot. “ It’s Roy,” he cried. “ It’s Roy. The 
Lycoming is only thirty miles away. She’ll reach 
us in less than two hours.” 

Again he turned to his instrument. Now he 
flashed out the Lycoming's call. “ WNA — ^WNA 
— WNA de 3ADH — 3ADH — 3ADH,” he 
flashed. 

At once came the response. ‘‘ 3ADH — 3ADH 
— 3ADH de WNA— WNA— WNA. Have been 
trying to get you, Alec. Where are you? ” 

“ On the Rebecca," flashed back Alec. “ Just 
sent the SOS you answered.” 

“ Thank God you’ve got a wireless ! ” came back 
the answer from Roy. “ Don’t worry. We’ll find 
you sure. We’ve already shifted our course. 
We’re heading straight for the Capes.” 

“ Stand by while I tell the Captain, Roy,” sig- 
nalled Alec. Then he threw over his switch and 
darted out on deck. 


296 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

“ We’re saved, Captain,” he shouted through the 
storm. “ The Lycoming is only thirty miles away 
and is heading straight for us. She will reach us in 
less than two hours.” 

Anxiously the three watchers peered into the 
dark. Aloft swung their lights. In a dish-pan on 
the deck a flare was burning. From time to time 
Hawley fed oil-soaked pieces of wood to the flames. 
The rain had ceased to fall. The wind still blew 
fitfully, but with lessened violence. The night was 
as dark as a tunnel. Up and down, up and down, 
the oyster-boat now rose and fell on the great 
swells of the Atlantic. At last Alec was within 
sight of the ocean. But it was little he saw of it or 
cared to see of it. 

What he was watching for was a light. Minute 
after minute the silent watchers strained their eyes 
into the darkness. Time passed. A half hour 
went by. An hour elapsed. Then far off in the 
dark something glowed faintly. Minute by minute 
the light grew brighter. It came closer. 

Alec darted into the cabin. He flashed the Ly- 
coming's call and got an answer. “We can see the 
lights of a big steamer,” he signalled. “ Can you 
see us yet? We are burning a flare on deck 
and our lights are burning aloft.” 

“We see you plainly. Will reach you in a few 
minutes.” 

Alec shut off his power. “ Come on deck,” he 
said to Elsa. 

She followed him up the companionway. Alec 


ADEIFT IN THE STOEM 


297 


tore off his coat and wrapped it around her. Then 
he took her hand and led her forward. 

“ Look,” he said. “ You may never see another 
sight like this.” 

“ I never want to,” said Elsa. 

“ That is the Lycoming,'' said Alec. “ Didn’t I 
tell you that Roy was a prince? We shall owe our 
lives to him. He’s a wonderful wireless man.” 

“ Will you ever learn any sense? ” said Elsa. 
“ How would Roy or his captain have known that 
we were here if we hadn’t had a good wireless man 
on board the Rebecca? " 

Now the Lycoming was close at hand. Suddenly 
her search-light blazed forth and rested fairly on 
the little schooner. Slowly the big steamer drew 
near. Then she stopped. Presently a boat shot 
into the circle of light. Lusty sailors were pulling 
at the oars. A line trailed behind. The boat 
passed slowly to leeward of the helpless oyster-boat, 
then drew close. A sailor rose to his feet and cast 
a little line. Swiftly it came hissing through the 
air. Hawley grasped it before it touched the deck. 
Hand over hand he pulled the line aboard. The 
light line was followed by a huge hawser. Eagerly 
the line was hauled aboard. Big Hawley made 
it fast. The ship’s boat disappeared into the 
darkness. The sound of tackle-blocks soon 
followed. Slowly the Lycoming moved ahead. 
The hawser tightened. The Rebecca swung gently 
round, then slowly moved ahead. In another mo- 
ment she was moving steadily through the water. 


CHAPTER XXIV 

MISFORTUNES NEVER COME SINGLY 

TELL, I never thought I’d come to this in 

VV an oyster-boat,” said the shipper. “We 
might have been in real trouble if that steamer 
hadn’t happened along.” 

Alec thought they were in real trouble as it was. 
“ I wonder where the Lycoming will take us,” he 
said. 

“ By George! We must attend to that at once. 
We don’t want to be towed clear off to New York. 
Call up the captain, Alec, and see if he won’t tow 
us into the Cape May harbor.” 

Alec hurried to the cabin and called Roy. Then 
he explained the situation. After a time he got an 
answer. The Lycoming would tow the Rebecca to 
the Cape May harbor, but a tug would be needed 
to take the schooner into the harbor itself. Roy 
said he would try to arrange for the tug. Alec 
listened in while Roy was talking with Cape May. 
Finally Roy called Alec again and said that a tug 
would meet them. In little more than an hour’s 
time the Lycoming was nearing Cape May. The 
tug came alongside and made fast to the Rebecca. 
Then the tow-line was cast off, good-byes were 
called. Captain Rumford sent his thanks and good 
wishes to Captain Lansford of the Lycoming, and 
finally Alec wired a grateful message to Roy from 
298 


MISFOETUNES NEVEE COME SINGLY 299 

the party on the Rebecca, The big steamer moved 
off into the darkness, the tug began to puff busily, 
and before another hour passed, the Rebecca lay 
safe and still within the harbor. Next day tem- 
porary repairs were made to the Rebecca's rudder, 
and before night the oyster-boat lay snug at her 
own pier at Bivalve. 

The pleasure trip had been a great success — all 
but the very end of it; and very little harm had 
come of that. Excepting for the rudder, which was 
quickly replaced, not a thing was damaged on the 
little boat. The greatest injury came to the cap- 
tain’s pocketbook. Tug hire and the cost of repairs 
made the outing expensive. But so long as they 
had come home in safety, the shipper did not com- 
plain. 

By the time the Rebecca was in commission again 
the oyster season was at hand. Orders began to 
appear for oysters. As was usual at the beginning 
of the season, there were too few oyster orders to 
pay the expenses of operating. Some shippers did 
not start their boats promptly; but Captain Rum- 
ford had built up his big business as much by pro- 
viding service as by selling good oysters. It was 
his idea that as an oyster merchant it was up to 
him to provide oysters whenever they were in sea- 
son. So the Bertha B started promptly. 

Now it seemed as though misfortune had marked 
the shipper for her very own; as though, balked of 
her prey on that stormy day in August, she meant 
to pursue the shipper until she got him. An un- 


300 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

broken succession of little accidents occurred on the 
Bertha B, Now a dredge was lost and valuable 
time consumed in grappling for it. Now a pro- 
peller blade was snapped off by something in the 
water — perhaps the submerged remains of an oys- 
ter stake. Then a piston-rod in the engine broke. 
One mishap followed another. And it required 
both time and money to repair each. The shipper’s 
repair bill alone made him look serious. 

But bad luck did not end there. From the very 
start it was evident that it was to be a poor year 
for oysters. The shipper’s boat worked long hours 
and caught relatively few oysters. As more orders 
came in, other boats were put in commission. The 
result was the same. Day after day the boats came 
in with only half loads. Nor was this situation pe- 
culiar to Captain Rumford. Few, indeed, were the 
shippers who had many oysters that year. In his 
shallow water beds, or such of them as contained 
oysters old enough to dredge, the captain got a 
fair catch. But all the profit he made from these 
beds, and more too, was eaten up by the expense of 
working his deep water beds. So far as he could, 
the shipper took his oysters from his inner beds. 
But these had been dredged so close in the hum- 
ming oyster seasons just past, and did not begin 
to contain as many oysters as the shipper needed. 

What was worse, when he had taken the present 
season’s crop from these inner beds, there would be 
no more to dredge for three years. For these were 
the beds he had seeded in the spring — these and the 


MISFOETUNES NEVEE COME SINGLY 301 


new bed far out that Captain Flint had seeded so 
heavily and that Hardy had tried to raid. Week 
after week the oyster-boats continued their work, 
and with every week the captain found himself a 
poorer man. But there was nothing to do but go 
on — to borrow money, if necessary, and then bor- 
row more and more. If he expected to retain his 
customers for future j^ears when oysters were plen- 
tiful and profitable again, he must carry his load of 
loss now. And of course the captain went on. 

He was not a superstitious man, was Captain 
Rumford, but like all sailors he came near to being 
one. It seemed to him that the loss of Captain 
Bagley was directly connected with his misfor- 
tunes; as though that loss were the first link in a 
chain of misfortune. Close on Bagley’s loss had 
come the accident to the Rebecca, Then had fol- 
lowed a big string of accidents to Bagley’s old ship. 
Of course, big Jim Hawley, the new commander, 
was in no way responsible for these, and yet it al- 
most seemed as though there was a direct connec- 
tion between his coming aboard and these accidents. 
What Captain Rumford forgot was the fact that 
the Bertha B, like the one-hoss shay, had reached a 
point where she was almost ready to go to pieces. 
She was the oldest boat in the captain’s fleet. She 
had seen continuous service for dozens of years. 
Her engine was the very oldest in use among the 
03^ster-boats. Nothing can wear forever, and the 
Bertha B was reaching the point where she would 
have to be laid on the shelf. It was big Jim Haw- 


302 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

ley’s misfortune that he assumed command of her 
at that particular moment. 

Had Captain Rumford only thought of it, he 
could have balanced a whole string of fortunate 
events against this string of unfortunate ones ; and 
these had begun with the coming of Alec. The 
largest bead in this string was the fact of their 
rescue on the Rebecca, There were other beads 
that at present Captain Rumford failed to note at 
all, or even to understand that they were pieces of 
good fortune, as, for example, Alec’s survey of the 
oyster waters. In good time, however, he was to 
see that matter in its true light. 

As for Alec, he had never toiled so hard in his 
life. A year of unremitting labor had taught him 
how to work. Not only was he able to hold himself 
rigidly to his tasks, but he could accomplish more 
in a given time than he had ever done before. Nor 
was that strange. He was merely acquiring the 
skill that comes of practice. For now Alec felt like 
an old hand in the oyster business. He had passed 
a full year as an oysterman. He had seen every 
phase of the oyster business. He had learned as 
many actual facts about oystering as almost any- 
body at Bivalve knew; and he had acquired many 
that most of his fellow oystermen would never un- 
derstand. What he still lacked was the wisdom 
that comes from long experience. Only time could 
give him that. Yet he was a generation ahead of 
his fellow oystermen. He was the first of the oyster 
pioneers of the new school. 


MISFOETUNES NEVEE COME SINGLY 303 

Hard, indeed, must have been the luck that fol- 
lowed the Bertha B, when with two men like Alec 
and Captain Hawley aboard her she was still a 
failure. F or Captain Hawley was a new Hawley, 
indeed. He still had all his old strength and cour- 
age, all his innate good-nature, all his deep knowl- 
edge of oystering as it had been practiced. And he 
had more. He had been recreated. His ambition 
had been again aroused. He had been fired afresh 
Avith the determination to climb up in the oyster 
business. His unexpected elevation to the cap- 
taincy of a ship had stimulated and aroused him to 
the utmost. His association with Alec had brought 
out the best that was in him. And these two com- 
rades, Alec and Captain Jim, worked to make 
things go for the shipper, as few men ever worked 
for another. They drove the ship, they drove the 
crew — by example rather than compulsion — they 
made everything work as close to one hundred per 
cent, efficiency as is humanly possible — and yet they 
failed. No matter Avhat the obstacles, they could 
have dredged the oysters, had there been oysters to 
dredge; but they could not make oysters. 

Again and again Alec went over with Jim the 
life-history of the oyster, for now Captain HaAvley 
was as eager to learn the real truth about oysters as 
once he had been indifferent to that truth. In his 
study of the oyster-beds in future years, Alec kncAV 
he would no longer have to work alone. Now they 
tried to account for the poor yield of oysters. For 
everywhere the yield was poor. Nobody had a good 


304 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPERATOE 

crop. And more than one shipper saw bankruptcy 
looming in the offing. Every aspect of oy storing 
Alec and Captain Jim considered as they sat by the 
cabin fire in the Bertha B at night. The tide, the 
bottom, the storms, the quantities of seed used. 
And here Captain Jim’s memory was of wonderful 
help. Apparently he knew all about the weather 
for years past. Eventually they hit upon the truth. 
The year in which the present season’s catch was 
planted had been the coldest in a decade. Storm 
had followed storm. And finally, seed had been 
scarce. 

“ I think we have solved it,” said Alec at last. 
“ It was too cold for spawning, so there were few 
larvee in the water. The storms must have shifted 
the sand and mud in the bottom and smothered 
many oysters. On top of all that there were few 
seed to plant. No wonder there are no oysters this 
year.” 

“ Alec,” said the big sailor, “ if what you say is 
true, and I now believe it is, there won’t be many 
oysters next season, either, or the year after. For 
we had three cold, stormy springs running.” 

Alec considered the matter a while. “ It will 
go tough with the shipper,” he said, “ for this year 
will clean up his inshore beds pretty well. He can’t 
get anything out of them for three seasons. And I 
don’t believe there’ll be many oysters in his other 
beds. We must think what we can do to help Cap- 
tain Rumford.” 

In every way that he could, Alec was assisting 


MISFORTUNES NEVER COME SINGLY 306 

the captain. Every day when the Bertha B came 
in from the oyster grounds, Alec dropped off at the 
pier and hustled to the office to help the shipper 
with the office work. And now he was permitted to 
do some of the bookkeeping. For, with things go- 
ing so badly on his boats, the shipper had often to 
be away from his office. There were banks to be 
visited, merchants to be consulted, ship-chandlers 
to be seen. His line of credit was worrying the 
shipper quite as much as his line of boats. For he 
understood b}^ this time that he would have to oper- 
ate at a loss for the entire season. 

Sometimes there came a dull day when Alec 
could attend to his shell business. Now that he had 
lost Hawley as a partner, he had had to employ 
some one else to gather his shells. He had found 
a young lad, who was strong and willing to work, 
and who had given excellent service. Work, rather 
than workers, was at a premium this season, for al- 
ready many boats had stopped running, and Alec 
had to pay no more for his new assistant than he 
had formerly paid to Hawley. And as he con- 
tinued to live on the Bertha B, Alec was still able 
to save several dollars each week. This year he 
would have all the shells from all the shippers, and 
he was certain of a good profit. From this he 
meant to give his helper a generous bonus. 

In due time Captain Hardy and his accomplices 
were tried. Alec had to appear as a witness against 
them, but he found that he had the moral support 
of every honest shipper at Bivalve. And this time. 


306 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

true to prediction, Hardy did go to prison, and 
every one of his pals went with him. Their assault 
on Alec, and their evident intent to kill him, had as 
much to do with their getting a prison sentence as 
the actual theft of oysters did. So it came about 
that Alec was relieved of the danger of personal 
injury. 

Slowly the winter passed. Daily Alec’s admira- 
tion for the shipper grew. Now that he was help- 
ing with the books, Alec understood how very hard 
hit the shipper was. He thought he understood the 
very sober face and the worried look the captain 
carried. But never a word escaped the captain’s 
lips that would lead any one to think he was in 
difficulty, and even Alec never guessed the actual 
truth. 

Spring came. This time it was a warm, balmy 
spring. Earth and water and air warmed up early 
and stayed warm. If only the oystermen had 
known it, this was the season of all seasons to put 
down shells. But the oystermen were in poor con- 
dition to do much of anything. There was hardly a 
man among them who had not lost money. More 
than one of these almost lost his faith with his 
money. In consequence, grounds were shelled 
lighter than they had been in years. 

But Alec had not lost his faith nor his deter- 
mination. Everything that he saw and read and 
heard tended to increase his belief that scientific 
oystering would pay as the old rule-of-thumb style 
of oystering had never paid. And the more he 


MISFOETUNES NEVEE COME SINGLY 307 

became convinced of that fact, the readier he was to 
back his judgment with his cash, to bet more and 
more heavily on himself. To him that hath, the 
Good Book tells us, shall be given. Alec found it 
was even so. He had the knowledge. He had 
the oyster-bed. He had the shells. And with 
many boats idle, he had ships aplenty at his com- 
mand. All that he had he risked on the shelling of 
his beds. He put down bushels where other plant- 
ers ordinarily j)lanted baskets. And he piled his 
shells in windrows transversely to the current. 
Shells by the ton he planted in his bed, stopping 
only when his money was entirely exhausted. 
When finally he had to end his efforts, he found 
that he had shelled his grounds almost to the last 
rod. 

But it had required more courage to do so than 
Alec had foreseen. He had full confidence in his 
own judgment, and he had the support of Hawley, 
but Captain Rumford had stormed and stormed at 
what he termed Alec’s folly. For the shipper had 
Alec’s welfare very much at heart, and to him there 
seemed very little difference between dumping dol- 
lars and dumping shells into that great depth of 
water. In his o^vn mind he was perfectly certain 
that Alec had parted with every one of his hard 
earned dollars that had gone into the shelling of 
the new bed. 

But despite the shipper’s opposition, Alec had 
persevered. Summer found him with an empty 
pocket, but full of hope. And it found him well to- 


308 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

ward his twenty-first birthday. But what a dif- 
ferent lad he was from the high school boy who had 
landed at Bivalve only a little less than two years 
previously. Hard physical labor had broadened 
and built him up. He was close to the six feet 
Captain Bagley had predicted for him. He was 
as powerful as an ox. His courage had grown. 
His mind had expanded with his body. His de- 
termination to climb up had become stronger and 
stronger. The friendship between Elsa and him- 
self was as solid as a rock. It was founded on mu- 
tual respect and confidence. Trust was its corner- 
stone. 

Nor was Elsa the only one who trusted Alec, nor 
yet the shipper and Alec’s immediate friends. 
Everybody at the oyster wharves had confidence in 
him. They knew his ambitions. They also knew 
he would achieve them. Many a man among them 
would have risked his money on Alec as confidently 
as Alec had done himself and would have done so 
gladly. For all money and wealth in the world is 
won through the efforts of human beings. And 
far-seeing business men are ever looking for de- 
j)endable lads to invest in, just as much as they are 
on the watch for other good bargains to buy. But 
of all this Alec as yet had little realization. All 
he understood was that he was keeping faith with 
himself and other men and that he was slowly but 
surely forging ahead. 


CHAPTER XXV 


THE CRISIS 

D uring the two years that followed, matters 
went from bad to worse for the shipper. 
Even as Captain Hawley had predicted, the dearth 
of oysters continued. Day after day the fleet came 
back from the oyster grounds with the lightest of 
loads. But expenses were as heavy as ever. 
Gloomy, indeed, were these days at Bivalve. 
Credit was strained to the utmost. Ship-chandlers, 
merchants, supply houses, and banks were carrying 
accounts long overdue, and lending still more 
money to men unable to pay what they already 
owed. The lenders’ only hope of getting out what 
they had already put into the oyster business lay 
in putting in still more, in carrying the shippers 
until the oyster business became prosperous again. 
Yet there was a limit even here, and now one, and 
then another shipper went to the wall. 

Though nobody guessed it. Captain Rumford 
was in worse shape than any other planter in the 
business. His loans were so widely scattered, how- 
ever, that not even the bankers suspected his actual 
condition. Bravely he fought to stave off a smash. 
Finally he came to the point where he had to sacri- 
fice something or lose all. He sold a large oyster- 
309 


310 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

bed. Three years previously it would have brought 
him double the price he now got for it. But now 
the oyster business was in the worst sort of a depres- 
sion. Nobody wanted oyster-beds at any price. 
Shippers could not work what they already had. 
So for a time the captain’s offer went begging. 
Then finally some one who had money picked up 
the bargain. 

Alec alone of the shipper’s forces saw the oyster 
ground change hands without sorrow. It was one 
of the beds that Alec had condemned. He be- 
lieved the shipper had benefited rather than harmed 
himself by the sale. In his opinion Captain Rum- 
ford would have been wise to sell his poor beds and 
work his good beds more intensively. He tried to 
tell the shipper something of this, but it was cold 
comfort to the captain. 

Weeks passed. Things grew steadily worse in 
the oyster business. Yet there were exceptions to 
the general rule. More than one shipper was mak- 
ing money. Anybody who had oysters would have 
made money, for as oysters became scarcer the price 
rose higher. And some shippers had them. Day 
after day their boats came in well laden. Day after 
day their slips were occupied by well filled oyster 
scows, their piers encumbered with long rows of 
bulging oyster sacks waiting to be trundled aboard 
the trains. With his eyes open to all that was do- 
ing, Alec noted who these fortunate shippers were. 
He was much about the piers now, for sometimes 
for days on end the shipper kept him in the office 


THE CRISIS 


311 


to look after things, while the shipper himself was 
absent on business. Daily Alec made it a point to 
note who was shipping oysters in quantity. Now 
he dropped a casual question here, now a joking 
inquiry there, until he amassed an amount of infor- 
mation that was amazing. Dor he was finding out 
far more than the mere matter of what planters had 
oysters. He was ascertaining where each man's 
oysters came from, and whether they were princi- 
pally planted oysters or oysters that had set them- 
selves in the various beds. Alec even tabulated the 
information he got, and when his table was com- 
plete, he examined his charts of the oyster-beds in 
the light of it. 

He now possessed the most complete data about 
the oyster grounds that any one had probably ever 
collected. For his chart showed him, not only the 
contour of the Bay and the location and ownership 
of the various oyster-beds, but to a large extent the 
contour of the bottom of the Bay, the depth of water 
at different points, the nature of the bottom, 
whether muddy or sandy, while every principal 
slick and swirl and eddy was plainly indicated. 
Now, as he studied these data, he wanted to shout 
for very joy; for again and again he found proof 
of his own beliefs about oysters, and confirmation of 
the facts he had gotten from his little book. Here 
were planters with beds located much like the deep 
water beds of Captain Rumford, who were getting 
next to nothing. Here were others, with beds bor- 
dering a slick, like Captain Hardy’s, who were 


312 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

bringing in good catches of oysters, while still others 
whose grounds lay in some great eddy, like Captain 
Rumford’s inshore beds, were coining money 
through their good hauls. Only where heavy 
plantings had been made were there good crops in 
those areas that Alec considered poor locations. 
Here was confirmation, indeed, here was proof, in 
very truth, of the convictions that had formed in 
Alec’s mind. He believed that the truth about 
oyster grounds could be learned by any one who 
would study diligently, as he had, and with an open 
mind. For Alec never doubted that to him the 
truth was now an open secret. 

All that he learned only convinced him the more 
that Captain Rumford’s enforced sale of his deep 
water beds was not the calamity the shipper con- 
sidered it. So he felt little distress when Captain 
Rumford was compelled to sacrifice still another of 
his deep water holdings. But he was frankly puz- 
zled. He could not understand why this sale was 
necessary. Although he knew that the shipper was 
losing money steadily, he had a very fair idea as to 
the extent of these losses. To Alec it seemed as 
though the sale of the first bed should have enabled 
the captain to come through the season safely; 
for, though the bed had gone at a sacrifice, neverthe- 
less, the sum actually received for it was large. 
That, with the money the captain did have, Alec 
thought, should have carried him through the sea- 
son. Yet it was no time at all before the shipper 
was again in desperate straits. When the shipper 


THE CRISIS 


313 


parted with still another of his holdings, Alec was 
dumfounded. 

He went to Elsa with the matter. “ Do you 
know,” he asked, “ why your father found it neces- 
sary to sell his third oyster ground? ” 

Elsa looked at him searchingly. Alec misunder- 
stood the look. “ I am not trying to pry into 
your father’s affairs, Elsa,” he said, “ but you 
know ” 

‘‘ Of course you aren’t, Alec,” she replied. “ Did 
you really think I believed you were? You ought 
to know me better by this time, Alec. I would never 
suspect you of doing anjdhing dishonorable or dis- 
creditable. But your question startled me. I 
didn’t even know that father had sold another oys- 
ter-bed. But I know he’s deeply in trouble. Night 
after night I hear him talking to mother about 
things, though I don’t know what they are saying, 
and mother looks so worried. And we have to be 
so careful about expenses, Alec. Father has al- 
ways given me almost everything I asked for. 
Now he says he can’t afford to spend a cent that he 
doesn’t just have to. I don’t know what it all 
means, but I know he’s in trouble.” 

“ Well, Elsa, you know I help keep his books, 
and I can’t help knowing something about his busi- 
ness. He lost money last year and he’s losing 
money this year. But the loss isn’t so terrible that 
it should cause all this distress. At least I don’t 
see how it can be. Yet your father is terribly 
worried. I can see it in a thousand ways. And he 


314 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

has sold three oyster grounds now, and yet seems as 
hard pressed for money as ever. You do know that 
I don’t want to pry into his business, Elsa, but I’d 
like to know more about it in a perfectly honest, 
friendly way. Likely there isn’t a thing in the 
world I can do to help him. But if there is, I want 
to do it. That’s why I’m asking you the present 
question.” 

“ Thank you, Alec,” said Elsa. “ That is very 
fine of you. I know you mean every word of it. 
And I know it would give you pleasure to help 
father. But I am as much puzzled as you are. 
And what you say worries me. Come to me to- 
morrow night, and, meantime, I will see if I can 
learn what is the matter.” 

A very sober-faced Elsa it was who greeted Alec 
on the next night. “ Come,” she said. ‘‘ Let us 
take a walk. I have lots to tell you, but I cannot 
tell it here.” 

They left the house and walked in the moonlight 
along the cool country road. On his arm Alec 
could feel Elsa’s hand tremble. “ Oh, Alec ! ” she 
almost sobbed, when they had walked a little dis- 
tance. “ It’s terrible, just terrible. Father thinks 
he’s going to lose everything he has — ^his oyster 
grounds, his boats, all his stocks and bonds and 
money, and even our very home. He says he 
doesn’t know what is to become of us. He’s too old 
to make another fortune and we may have to go to 
the poorhouse.” She broke down and stopped in 
a flood of tears. 


THE CEISIS 


315 


“ Elsa, Elsa — dear,” said Alec, “ don't cry. 
Surely it cannot be so bad as that. I cannot see 
how his indebtedness can be so great. He isn't los- 
ing so terribly much.'' 

She laid her head on his breast and Alec passed 
his arm protectingiy around her shoulders. “ It 
isn't the oyster business at all, Alec. He has some 
other debts we never even suspected. I asked him 
what was the trouble and he told me everything. 
He said it would come easier if I could prepare my- 
self for the crash.” 

“ But tell me about it, Elsa. What are these 
debts? Has your father been speculating? ” 

“ No, Alec. But he has made large investments 
on the partial payment plan. If the oyster busi- 
ness had kept up the way it was going for two or 
three years, he could have met his obligations nicely 
and canceled his indebtedness. Now he not only 
has no revenue from his oysters to meet the pay- 
ments, but he is getting in debt deeper every day he 
runs his boats.” 

“ Why doesn't he stop running them? ” 

“ Oh! He can't, Alec, he can't. He doesn't dare 
let anybody know the situation, for nobody suspects 
it yet.” 

“ But surely the banks will help him out. Why, 
if he has an equity in a valuable property, even if it 
isn't fully paid for, the banks will gladly lend him 
money.” 

“Oh, Alec! That’s just where the trouble is. 
He's borrowed every cent that anybody will lend 


316 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

him. He’s tried and tried, and he can’t borrow 
another penny.” 

“ But surely he can’t be so desperately off as you 
think, Elsa.” 

“ I’m afraid it’s worse than I think. Mother has 
been crying all day. Father said flatly that he 
didn’t think there was a particle of hope. He’ll 
hang on as long as he can, in the hope that some- 
thing may save him. By selling more oyster-beds 
and his boats, he says he can keep his head above 
water for a little while, but if he sells his grounds 
and his boats, how is he ever to pay the debts he 
owes? Oh, Alec! It’s terrible ! ” 

“ Little girl,” said Alec, “ if I were to tell you 
that what you have just told me makes me almost 
happy, I suppose you’d never speak to me again.” 

“Oh, Alec!” cried Elsa springing away from 
him. “ Whatever do you mean? You can’t mean 
what you say.” 

“ No, Elsa. I don’t. I am distressed beyond 
measure about your father. But if your father is 
in such bad condition financially, you wouldn’t call 
him rich any longer, would you? ” 

“Rich! Why, Alec, we’ll soon be paupers. 
That’s the very word father used.” 

“ Then if you are a pauper, Elsa, you wouldn’t 
think me a fortune-hunter if I asked you a question 
that’s been in my heart for months, would you? ” 

“ I — I — I don’t know,” faltered Elsa. “ How 
can I know when you haven’t even asked me? ” 
But her tone showed very plainly that she knew. 


THE CEISIS 


317 


“ Are you sure you want me to ask you? ” said 
Alec, raising her face with his hand and looking 
straight into her eyes. “ I’ll wait — if you wish it.” 

“ Please — ask me,” she said. 

Alec bent his head and whispered in her ear. 

“ Are you asking because you really don’t know, 
or just because you want to hear me say yes?” 
asked Elsa, archly. 

“ How could I know, when you haven’t told 
me? ” retorted Alec. “ And anyway, I do want to 
hear you say yes.” 

“ Then I’ll say it. Yes.” 

‘‘ Thank you, Elsa,” said Alec, pressing her hand. 
“ Now that I know, I shall not bother you any 
more. What I must do, what we all must do, is to 
try to save your father.” 

‘‘ Oh! If only he could get oysters, he’d pull 
through sound enough. I’m sure of it. Prices 
were never higher. The shippers that have them 
are coining money. If only father’s beds would 
yield as they sometimes do, he could meet all his 
interest charges and gradually pay off his debts.” 

“ Then there’s just one thing for me to do — find 
those oysters for him.” 


CHAPTER XXVI 


VICTORY 

F ar into the night Alec lay awake, turning the 
situation over and over in his mind. Where 
could he find the oysters for Captain Rumford? 
Find them he must. Never could he see his friend 
and benefactor, the man who had given him a start 
and who was helping him up the ladder — never 
could he see him go to the wall if by anj^ possibility 
he could prevent it. And now, if he could only find 
the oysters, he could prevent it. But where could 
he find the oysters? Where could they be had at a 
reasonable figure? 

He got up and lighted the lamp. Then he got 
his charts. Carefully he examined his notes. He 
had marked down every bed in the Cove that was 
producing well. One by one he examined the beds 
he had listed. Not one of them offered the slightest 
solution to his problem. The men who owned them 
were working them to capacity. He could hope 
for no help there. Again and again he went over 
his list, only to become more and more certain that 
no oysters were to be had. 

In despair he turned to his chart itself. Bed 
after bed he examined, still without success. Then 
he came to Hardy’s bed. Why hadn’t he thought 
of it before, he asked himself. There must be 
318 


VICTOEY 


319 


oysters there. If what he had read about oysters 
was true, there must be oysters in Hardy’s bed. 
There must be quantities of them. Hardy had had 
plenty of shells down. Alec knew about the shells. 
He didn’t know whether Hardy had planted many 
oysters or not. But if the shells were there, even 
if Hardy hadn’t planted any seed, the bed must be 
loaded with oysters, Alec felt sure. Alec had ex- 
amined the water in the bed. He knew it was 
swarming with spat. There must be oysters there. 
For the bed had lain untouched since Hardy went 
to prison. During the hard times that had come 
upon the oyster business these few years, almost 
nobody had bought oyster-beds or wanted to buy 
any. And when they did buy, they wanted to se- 
cure grounds from shippers known as careful 
oystermen, men like Captain Rumford, who took 
care of their grounds and worked them; not men 
like Captain Hardy, who was known to be reck- 
less and careless, and who never took care of his 
beds. So there they had lain, untouched through 
all these months. There Alec could find oysters. 
There he must find them. For if he could not get 
them there, he could not get them at all. It was 
Hardy’s bed or nothing. 

Now he got out his bank-book and counted to the 
last cent the money he had on deposit, in his clothes, 
and owing him. Then he got his shell records. 
His shell boy kept track of the number of bushels 
he gathered from day to day, and each week Alec 
posted the record in his shell book. So he knew 


320 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOE 

almost to a basket what he had. The season was 
well along, his pile of shells was large, though not 
so huge as it would have been in a good year. But 
it was large enough. The shells in it were worth 
hundreds of dollars. 

Next day, his shell book in his hand, Alec went to 
the bank where the captain had his account. He 
was well known there. He often made deposits for 
the shipper, or drew the pay-roll for him. He 
was listened to attentively. He wanted the bank to 
lend him a sum equal to the present value of the 
shells. The bank could have the shell pile as se- 
curity. The pile would grow larger day by day. 

“ What do you want of the money? ” the cashier 
asked him. 

“ I know where there is an unworked oyster-bed 
that I believe has oysters in it. I want to lease it 
and work it.” 

“ Suppose there are no oysters in it. What 
then? ” 

“ But there are.” 

“ How do you know? Have you been dredging 
in it? ” 

“ No, sir; but I know. I’ve been studying the 
waters of the oyster grounds for three years. I 
know every bed in the Cove. I know every slick 
and swirl and eddy. I know where the oyster 
larvae are thick and where they are few. I know 
where you will get rich yields of oysters by shelling 
and where you will get hardly any. And I know 
there are oysters in this bed.” 


VICTOEY 


321 


“ See here, young man,” said the banker, “ I 
don’t understand all this. Nobody else ever talked 
to me this way about oysters and oyster-beds before. 
And I’ve been dealing with oystermen all my life. 
Are you trying to stuff me? ” 

“ Of course you never heard anything like it,” 
said Alec, “ for nobody ever did these things at Bi- 
valve before. I am the first oysterman here of the 
new type. There will be scientific oystermen 
aplenty in a little while.” 

“ I want to know more about this. Just come 
back into the directors’ room and tell me more 
about it.” 

Half an hour later Alec walked out of the direc- 
tors’ room, his face shining. He signed a note and 
shoved it through the window to the cashier. 

‘‘ That’s all right, Mr. Cunningham,” said the 
cashier. “ I’ll put this sum to your credit. And 
remember, if you need more we shall be glad to help 
you out.” 

Alec thanked the banker and walked hastily out. 
‘‘Now who’d have thought that the mere story of 
what I’ve been doing would make him lend me the 
money? ” he said to himself. What Alec did not 
understand was that it was his own character and 
not his story of scientific oyster methods that got 
him the money. Like Captain Rumford and other 
men, the banker, too, had been watching Alec 
through the years. 

Straight to a lawyer Alec now hurried, with in- 
structions to lease Hardy’s oyster grounds. “ Lease 


322 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

them on a royalty basis, if you can, at so much per 
bushel,’’ said Alec. “ If you can’t get them that 
way, pay a flat sum. I can give you so much now 
in cash, and the remainder from month to month as 
we dredge the oysters.” 

In a few days the lease was secured. Hardy 
wanted a lump sum. Alec signed the agreement 
and drew his check for all he had in the bank. 
“ Now,” he said to himself, “ everything I’ve got in 
the world is at stake. I’ve backed my judgment to 
the limit. If I lose. I’ll have to go in debt to pay 
what I still owe Hardy. If I win, the shipper is 
saved.” 

From the lawyer’s office Alec went to the ship- 
per’s home. He found Elsa, as he had hoped he 
would, and told her what he had done. 

“Oh, Alec!” she said. “I can’t begin to tell 
you how fine you have been. If only you do get 
the oysters — won’t it be wonderful! ” 

He sought out the shipper. “ Captain Rum- 
ford,” he said, “ I wish you would lend me the 
Bertha B for a day.” 

The shipper looked at him in astonishment. 
“ What do you want of the Bertha B? ” he asked 
curiously. 

“ I’ve leased Hardy’s oyster-beds,” said Alec 
quietly. “ I borrowed the worth of my shell pile 
and added all my savings to that and paid it down 
on a lease, and I still owe money on it. I want to 
see if there are any oysters in the bed.” 

Captain Rumford looked at his assistant as 


VICTORY 


323 


though the latter had suddenly gone crazy. 
“ You’re joking,” he said. 

“ I’m telling the simple truth,” replied Alec. “ I 
very much want to know whether there are any 
oysters in that bed. Wouldn’t you, if you had 
leased it? ” 

“Alec! Alec!” cried the shipper sternly. 
“ Have you lost every bit of sense you ever had? 
You won’t get a dollar’s worth of oysters out of 
that bed. I’ve told you time and again those deep 
water beds are no place for oysters.” 

“ You have, indeed. Captain Rumford,” said 
Alec. “ I know exactly what you think of them. 
What I want to know now is whether you’ll lend me 
the Bertha B for a day.” 

“ You might as well know the truth first as last,” 
said the shipper. “ There is nothing so terrible as 
suspense. Take the boat and welcome.” And the 
shipper turned away with his face so haggard that 
it made Alec’s heart ache. 

Twenty-four hours later the Bertha B came 
plowing up to her pier. Alec leaped ashore and 
ran to the shipper’s office. “ Captain Rumford! ” 
he called, his eyes shining, his voice vibrant with 
emotion, “ Will you please come out on the pier? ” 

The captain came slowly down the stairs. In 
looks he had aged ten years. His face was drawn 
and haggard. His brow was deeply furrowed. 
Dark circles were about his eyes. His step was 
uncertain, almost shambling. His shoulders were 
stooped. Alec was shocked when he looked at him. 


324 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOK 

“ What is it? ” asked the shipper in a dull, lifeless 
tone. 

“ Please come look at the Bertha B, I just 
wanted you to see her before we go to the float.” 

The shipper followed Alec down the pier. Half- 
way he stopped dead in his tracks, paralyzed with 
astonishment. The Bertha B sat so low in the 
water her decks were almost awash. Her cabin, 
her hatches, her deck, her forepeak, all were covered 
with oysters. The boat was fairly swamped with 
them. 

“Oysters!” gasped the astonished shipper. 
“ How many have you? Where did you get them? 
What are you going to do with them? ” 

“ There’s more than a thousand dollars’ worth,” 
said Alec. “We are going to put them on your 
big float up the river.” 

“ But where did you get them? ” 

“ In the bed I just leased — Tom Hardy’s bed. 
Come into the office and I’ll tell you all about it. 
I don’t want to do it here.” 

Alec waved his hand to Skipper Hawley, then 
took the shipper by the arm and led him up to his 
office. 

“ Captain Rumford,” he said, “ there are oysters 
and oysters and oysters out there. I can bring you 
in a thousand dollars’ worth a day. While we were 
at it, we just looked at my grounds and they’re 
simply covered with oysters, too. There are tons 
and tons of them in my beds. They are a little too 
small to dredge yet, but they’ll be all right next fall. 


VICTORY 


325 


And your own shallow beds will be ready to dredge 
then, too.” 

The shipper fairly gasped. “ You got those 
oysters out in that deep water? ” he said. Then he 
asked, ‘‘ What are you going to do with them now 
that you have them? ” 

“ That’s just what I want to talk about. Cap- 
tain,” said Alec. “ I’ve got the oysters. You’ve 
got the boats. If we could just make some sort of 
agreement — if we could somehow combine forces — 
why. Captain, if you’ll just go ahead and dredge 
oysters for yourself until you get on your feet again, 

and then dredge a few for me ” Alec stopped, 

embarrassed. He did not know how to say what 
he wanted to say, now that the time had come to 
say it. 

The shipper looked at him with the old piercing 
glance that had seemed to bore through Alec so long 
ago. “ Boy,” he said, “ what are you trying to 
do — give me those oysters after the way you’ve 
toiled and studied and saved to get them? ” 

“ Oh! Captain, if you’ll only take them,” said 
Alec, ‘‘ I’ll be the happiest fellow in the world. 
They are yours — every one you need, even if you 
need them all.” 

“ God bless you, lad,” cried the shipper, blowing 
his nose violently, and beginning to pace the floor. 
‘‘ How I would like to take them. Why, they’d 
save me, lad. They’d save me.” 

“ Then take them. That’s why I got them, Cap- 
tain Rumford, — to save you,” 


326 THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR 

The captain turned and faced his assistant. “ 1 
will take them/’ he said. “ I will take them. But 
I’ll take them on one condition. I take them as 
your partner.” He hesitated a moment. His face 
paled a bit. “ Maybe you wouldn’t want a broken- 
down old man as a partner,” he said, “an old man 
already behind the times.” 

“ Captain Rumford,” said Alec, “ you are jest- 
ing. Surely you don’t mean that you want me as 
your partner in business. Why, I have no money 
now, and I have nothing, sir, but a little oyster-bed 
to put up against your great oyster grounds and 
your boats. It’s a wonderful opportunity, sir, but 
it wouldn’t be fair to you to take it.” 

“ Humph! ” said the shipper. “ Not fair, when 
I shall owe to you everything I have in the world. 
I am the one who is penniless; for without these 
oysters you offer I am a pauper. Now will you 
become my partner? ” 

“ Oh, Captain! ” said Alec. “ Of course I will, 
but I never dreamed of such a thing.” 

“ Likely not,” said the captain. “ But I have 
known for a long time that it was coming.” 

“ What! ” gasped Alec. 

“ Certainly,” said the shipper. “ I rather sus- 
pected it the first time I set eyes on you. I knew 
it the night you went overboard after Hawley.” 

“ What do you mean? ” asked Alec. “ I don’t 
understand it at all, sir.” 

“ It’s plain enough, lad. A man of my age can’t 
carry on a business forever. I’ve needed somebody 


VICTORY 


327 


to help me for a long time back and IVe been look- 
ing for some one, too. Yet I never could find just 
the man I wanted as a partner. But when I found 
how clean and true and fine you were, young man, 
and when I came to know you well enough to under- 
stand that I could trust you as I can my own wife, 
my mind was made up. What do you think IVe 
had you in the office for, anyway? What do you 
think IVe put my business more and more in your 
hands for? Didn’t you ever suspect that I was 
training you up to carry on the work when I 
couldn’t do it any longer? ” 

“ Captain ! ” gasped Alec. “ I can hardly believe 
it. To think of my being an oyster shipper — 
now — when I was only this morning a deck-hand. 
It just doesn’t seem possible.” 

“Are you sure that you’re satisfied with the bar- 
gain? Don’t you want to draw out before it’s too 
late?” 

An idea came to Alec and he stepped quickly to- 
ward the shipper. “ There is one thing more I’d 
like,” he said, “ something I want more than any- 
thing else in the world.” 

The shipper looked at him uncertainly, question- 
ingly, as though displeased. “ Name it,” he said 
brusquely. 

“ Your daughter, sir.” 

“ God bless me! ” said the shipper. “ You want 
a lot.” 

“ Hadn’t you foreseen that, too? ” asked Alec, 
smiling. 


328 THE YOUNG WIEELESS OPEEATOR 

“ I wouldn’t be truthful if I said no,” said tKe 
shipper. 

“ Your answer? ” said Alec. 

My answer? ” said the shipper. “ What about 
the girl? Don’t you think it would be a good thing 
to ask her? ” 

“ I have,” said Alec, blushing. “ She’s like that 
man I told you of once.” 

“ That man? ” said the shipper, puzzled. “ What 
man? What was his name? ” 

“ Barkis,” said Alec. 

The shipper laughed and held out his hand. 
“ Take her, son,” he said. “ You deserve her. And 
take an old man’s blessing. You have saved a gray 
head from disgrace. Now God bless you.” 


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RADIO STORIES BY 

Lewis E. Theiss 


TheYoung Wireless Operator— Afloat 

Or How Roy Mercer Won His Spurs in the Merchant Marine 

Storm, fog and accidents at sea, all lose much of their danger 
when aboard each vessel is an up-to-date wireless outfit and a 
staunch, loyal boy like Roy Mercer to operate it. 320 pages 

The Young Wireless Operator — as a 
Fire Patrol 

Being the 5tory of a Young Wireless Amateur Who Made 
Good as a Fire Patrol 

Through the experiments of this young Pennsylvania boy the 
radio has been introduced as the means of communication among 
fire patrols the country over. This is his story. 352 pages 

The Young Wireless Operator — With 
the Oyster Fleet 

How Alec Cunningham Won His Way to the Top In the Oyster 
Business 

Radio communication is essential to success in every great sea- 
going industry and in none more than with the oyster fleets off our 
coast. Alec used it to advantage for both the owner of the fleet 
and himself. 328 pages 

The Hidden Aerial 

The Spy Line on the Mountain 

Never has the radio proved its value more remarkably than in 
the great war. This is an exciting story of how it was used on 
several occasions with great success. 320 pages 

The Secret Wireless 

The story of how the Camp Brady patrol used their knowledge of 
the wireless at the beginning of the great war. 320 pages 

Wireless Patrol at Camp Brady 

A story of how the boy campers did their bit.*’ 

OTHER STORIES BY THE SAME AUTHOR 

In Camp at Port Brady 
Lumberjack Bob 

His Big. Brother 



SCOUTING BOOKS BY 

Walter P. Eaton 


The Boy Scouts of Berkshire 

A story of how the Chipmunk Patrol was started, what they did 
and how they did it. 818 paffes 

The Boy Scouts of the Dismal Swamp 

This story is a continuation of THE BOY SCOUTS OF BERKSHIRE 
and is an unusually interesting book on Boy Scouting. 810 pages 

Boy Scouts in the White Mountains 

Intimate knowledge of the country as well as of the basic princi* 
pies of Boy Scouting characterizes this new volume by Mr. Eaton. 

8t0 pages 

Boy Scouts of the Wildcat Patrol 

A Story of Boy ScoutlnsT 

This story is a continuation of the history of Peanut and the other 
characters which appeared in previous volumes by this author. 

815 pages 

Peanut — Cub Reporter 

A Boy Scout's life and adventures on a newspaper 

A rattling newspaper story with Peanut as the central character 
— he who has figured so prominently in the author’s four Boy Scout 
books. 820 pages 

Boy Scouts in Olacier Park 

The adventures of two young Easterners in the heart of the high 
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Boy Scouts at Crater Lake 

A Story of the High Cascades 

A very valuable and intensely interesting story of the experience 
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author has been over every foot of it himself. 320 pages 


*’EVeTV story Written by Waiter P. Eaton runs true in its de~ 
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keen observer of animals and a remar'Kabte leader of boys. 
His pictures are real and the spirit behind them betokens 
the loVer of Nature that he is, and best of alt. you can de- 
pend upon the truth of What he Writes."— The Herald, 


!By William Drysdale 

The Famous 

“ Brain and Brawn” Series 

^o}f should grofo up without reading these hook* 


ISe Young Reporter 

A STORY OF PRINTING HOUSE SQUARE. 300 pp. 

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'Se Past> Mail 

THE STORY OF A TRAIN BOY. 328 pp. 

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lEe Beach Patrol 

A STORY OF THE LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. 318 pp. 

A spirited picture of the labors and dangers to 
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lEe Young Supercargo 

A STORY OF THE MERCHANT MARINE. 352 pp. 

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The Volumes are Fully Illustrated. Price, $1.75 each. 


W. A. WILDE COMPANY 

Boston and Chicago 


Bp Captain Edw, L, Beach, U.S.N. 


Ralph Osborn — Midshipman at An» 
napolis 

A STORY OF ANNAPOLIS LIFE. 386 pages 

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A STORY OF MIDSHIPMAN LIFE AT SEA, AND 
CONTINUING “ RALPH.OSBORN— MIDSHIPMAN 
AT ANNAPOLIS.” 360 pages 

Ensign Ralph Osborn 

THE STORY OF HIS TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS 
IN A BATTLESHIP’S ENGINE ROOM. 338 pages 

Lieutenant Ralph Osborn Aboard a 
Torpedo Boat Destroyer 

BEING THE STORY OF HOW RALPH OSBORN 
BECAME A LIEUTENANT AND OF HIS CRUISE 
IN AN AMERICAN TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYER 
IN WEST INDIAN WATERS. 342 pages 

The “OSBORN” books show the steps of advancement in the 
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Th9S9 toiumes are att futtp iUnstrated 
Vriee, Cloth, $1,75 net each 


W. A. WILDE CO. Boston and Chicago 


By Everett T. Tomlinson 

War of the 
Revolution Series 

Each Volume Fully Illustrated 
Price, Cloth, $1.75 net each 

Every boy who has ever read these his- 
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Three Colonial Boys. A Story of the Times of 76 

Three Young Continentals. A Story of the 
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Washington’s Young Aids. A Story of the 
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Two Young Patriots; or. Boys of the Frontier. 
A Story of Burgoyne’s Invasion. 



















